Specialist sex cop team take control of Chris Evans case over alleged sexual assault
Former colleague accuses presenter of grabbing her breasts
SPECIALIST sex crimes cops last night took over the probe into claims Chris Evans repeatedly grabbed a colleague’s breasts.
Television and radio presenter Evans, 50, will be formally questioned under caution shortly by detectives from the Metropolitan Police SCO17 Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse command.
The case was transferred to the specialist squad from local officers in Tower Hamlets, East London, where Evans is alleged to have grabbed the woman programme executive’s breasts while working on the The Big Breakfast set at a house in Bow.
She claims Evans also repeatedly flashed at her, on some occasions while other staff members were present.
Former staff working on the programme, which married father-of-three Evans presented between 1992 and 1994, have been contacted by police and informally questioned as potential witnesses.
A television executive working on the show at the time was quizzed at Bethnal Green Police station, while cops have also spoken to other former colleagues of the presenter by telephone.
Formal statements are now due to be taken by SCO17 officers as the case steps up a gear.
The SCO17 section dealing with sexual offences will investigate the Evans case.
They normally deal with “rape and other serious sexual violence.”
However, the case is understood to have been transferred to the highly trained squad because of the TV star’s high profile and sensitivity around publicity.
It follows criticism of South Yorkshire Police for identifying Cliff Richard by allowing a BBC crew to film the August 2014 raid on his home before he had been questioned.
Operation Yewtree, the inquiry into predator Jimmy Savile and other celebrity sex offenders including Rolf Harris and Max Clifford, was carried out by SCO17’s predecessor, the Child Abuse Investigation Command.
The SCO17 unit is described by the Met as an area with “many experienced detectives who are specially trained in the investigation of sexual offences...”
Its website adds: “Detectives in this area give a special focus on ensuring that victim care and support is given throughout and after investigations.”
The complainant in the Evans case made the “non-recent sexual assault” allegation about him to police on May 23.
She told Heat Street website how Evans came onto her and turned nasty when she rejected his advances.
She said: “Chris wanted an affair with me but I didn’t want to because he was with someone else at the time. So he sent me to Coventry. He told colleagues not to talk to me. It was bullying behaviour.
“He often said I was c**p at my job and would sometimes grab my breasts. I became totally desensitised to his behaviour. He would scream, shout and swear at me.”
She added: “He used to get his penis out every time I saw him. He’d either just get it out, or he’d walk into a room naked. It was pretty much every single day. It was relentless.
The woman said she made a statement about Evans’s behaviour to a lawyer five years ago.”
But she reported the matter to police only on May 23 after the article appeared in a national newspaper on May 8.
She added: “In my experience, sometimes he exposed himself in front of other people. With me, he would do it practically every single day.
“He’d torture people who didn’t do what he wanted them to do. Looking back I should have left sooner but I stayed because I had to pay the rent.”
Police confirmed they were investigating the claim on Monday, hours before Evans announced he was quitting BBC motoring show Top Gear.
The Met said last night: “The matter is being investigated by officers from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse command.
“Nobody has been arrested or questioned under caution. Inquiries continue.”
The Met declined to comment on individuals involved in the case and said yesterday: “We do not discuss who we may, or may not, with to speak to as part of an investigation.”
Evans has previously spoken about exposing his penis in front of his work colleagues, saying he thought it was “the funniest thing in the world”.
He has not commented on the sex assault allegation made against him, but has denied bullying claims made against him.