00:01The Sydney Morning Herald's chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont, spoke to three of the five male complainants who were alleging
00:10that veteran broadcaster Alan Jones indecently assaulted them as part of his ongoing criminal trial.
00:16Now, Mr. Jones has pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of indecent assault and sexual touching relating to those five
00:22male complainants from between 2003 and 2020.
00:26Now, Ms. McClymont's reporting of allegations against Alan Jones has been referenced multiple times throughout this long-running trial, and
00:35her work has been raised as evidence by the Crown Prosecution.
00:39But her work has also been the subject of critique by Mr. Jones's defence barrister, Gabrielle Beshear SC.
00:45Now, after being called to the witness box yesterday, Ms. McClymont has been facing a second day of cross-examination
00:52by Mr. Jones's defence.
00:54Today, she was questioned about her contact with some of those complainants and witnesses related to those complainants.
01:00She was asked specifically about a phone call that she had with the mother of Complainant A.
01:06Now, Complainant A alleges that Alan Jones indecently assaulted him when he was a 17-year-old boy.
01:13Now, an audio recording of that phone call between Ms. McClymont and Complainant A's mother was played in court.
01:19Now, in that phone call, you can hear Ms. McClymont say,
01:22absolutely, that would be the nail in the coffin, in reference to the fact that Complainant A had previously gone
01:29to police with his initial complaint against Mr. Jones,
01:32but an investigation was not launched because that boy decided not to proceed with his official police statement.
01:40Now, Ms. McClymont says the reference to this would be the nail in the coffin was in reference to her
01:47story and saying it was not any reference to actually killing Mr. Jones.
01:52There was also some text messages between Complainant A and Ms. McClymont, which were raised in court, which she was
01:59asked to explain.
02:00One of those text messages was asking that young boy at the time whether or not he could let her
02:06know about whether an investigation would be reopened by police into his complaint several years earlier.
02:14And then in one of the text messages, Ms. McClymont accepts that she said she will wait to see when
02:19the expletive hits the fan for Mr. Jones in reference to this police investigation.
02:25She also alerted Complainant A about an investigation reopening into Alan Jones.
02:31There was also several questions as well about her interview and her contact with another complainant, Complainant H.
02:38He alleges that Alan Jones indecently assaulted him at a public event in the 2010s.
02:44Now, this person alleges that Alan Jones placed his hand on the lower part of his back in a boardroom,
02:51but he says that no one else witnessed this alleged indecent assault.
02:56Now, Ms. McClymont said that she did not speak to any other witnesses because she says there was no witnesses
03:01to this alleged indecent assault,
03:03but she also says that she did not speak to someone that this person confided in after this alleged indecent
03:10assault as well
03:10and did not ask for that person's details to contact them and speak to that in order to firm up
03:16this story.
03:17Now, she was also questioned about her contact with a police media manager in late 2024,
03:23just before Alan Jones was arrested at his circular key apartment.
03:27Now, the court heard that this media manager gave Ms. McClymont the tip-off,
03:32that an arrest was going down at his apartment,
03:35and alerted her so that she accepts that she could get journalists and photographers in the right place to get
03:41a photo of him being arrested
03:43and eventually taken into Day Street Police Station where he was initially charged.
03:48And that media manager also alerted Ms. McClymont to the fact that Alan Jones would be getting police bail as
03:55well
03:55and facing court at a later date.
03:57Now, Ms. McClymont has finished facing cross-examination for the day,
04:02and we expect that several police officers involved in this historic and decent assault investigation will be called next.
