King given 7 years for sex offences

Pop mogul Jonathan King has been sentenced to a total of seven years in jail for serious sexual assaults.

Pop mogul Jonathan King has been sentenced to a total of seven years in jail for serious sexual assaults.

A court heard he "exploited his celebrity" to lure boys to his London home.

He then seduced them with sexy pictures of girls, the Old Bailey was told.

The 56-year-old has been found guilty of six charges of sexual assault involving five boys between 1982 and 1987. The victims were aged between 14 and 15.

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The trial in September could not be reported until today because King faced three other trials for similar offences. The second trial alleging he committed serious sexual offences against two boys in the 1970s collapsed yesterday.

The prosecution offered no evidence after one of the victims said he could have been 16 at the time - taking him over the age of consent. King's defence counsel said he would be appealing against conviction.

King, of Queensborough Studios, Bayswater, central London, had denied all the charges, but at the end of a three-week trial a jury convicted him of four charges of indecent assault, one of buggery and one of attempted buggery.

The court was told that all but two of the victims had been assaulted on more than one occasion. The five complainants, now aged mainly in their early 30s, said in their evidence that they trusted King because he was famous.

A stream of celebrities, including lyricist Sir Tim Rice, gave evidence to his character in court - but none was aware of the details of the allegations against him.

David Jeremy, prosecuting, said: What he was really doing was perhaps exploiting his celebrity. That is what this case, in a funny way, is about - not so much for sexual exploitation, but the exploitation of the young by the use of celebrity."

PA