By Kate McClymont
Alan Jones announcing his retirement from radio in 2020.Credit: AAP
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Police investigated an allegation that Alan Jones indecently assaulted a schoolboy at the broadcaster’s sprawling Southern Highlands estate, directly contradicting a claim by the NSW police commissioner that no complaints have been received.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have received new allegations of indecent assaults following revelations last week that the high-profile radio host had groped multiple young men during his controversial career. Jones denies all the claims – including the most recent allegation uncovered by this masthead – and has threatened legal action.
“The defamatory meanings arising from your questions are false, and will be relied upon for aggravated damages in the foreshadowed defamation proceedings,” a lawyer for Jones said.
On Friday, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters that no complaints had been received about Jones. “I’m informed at this stage no one has made a complaint to police, but of course if they do, we will take that investigation and fully investigate that matter,” she said.
However, the Herald and The Age can reveal that in November 2017, two specialist detectives met schoolboy Neil Ogden and his principal at his high school in Wollongong, south of Sydney. This masthead has given Neil and his mother, Jenny, pseudonyms to protect their identities.
The detectives later came to Ogden’s house, where he provided a statement alleging he had just turned 17 when he was invited to spend a weekend at Jones’ Fitzroy Falls property in January 2017.
At the time, Jones was the top-rating broadcaster on Sydney’s radio 2GB and had taken an interest in and was financially assisting Ogden and his mother as they battled numerous difficulties, including the death of Ogden’s sister, which was the subject of some publicity.
Ogden alleges he and Jones, who was 75 at the time, watched a movie at the luxurious rural property before Jones passionately kissed him on the lips and placed his left hand on Ogden’s buttocks. Ogden initially froze, then pushed Jones away. He said he didn’t make a scene because of anxiety that Jones might withdraw support for his family if he complained.
He told the police in writing that he went to the bathroom “with my loofah and soap and began scrubbing my mouth, inside and out, as much as I could”.
Ogden’s mother said that when Neil returned home, “he was a changed person”. She kept asking him: “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Finally, Neil passed her a piece of paper on which he’d written his allegation that someone with “power and money” had done “something to him which he shouldn’t have”.
“Alan Jones was so aware of how vulnerable we were … and he just preyed on it,” Jenny Ogden alleged this week.
Neil Ogden told the Herald and The Age that as a result of the alleged incident, whenever he saw “some generic white guy who was above 70 … in my mind, I would see Alan Jones’s face on them”.
The mother and son recalled this week that police told them Jones would hire a formidable legal team, and it would be the word of a schoolboy against one of the most powerful people in the country. Jones was not “Joe Blow from Bunnings”, Jenny Ogden recalled an officer saying.
The detectives also said that what happened to Neil “is not enough to put him away” but they wanted a signed statement in case other complaints were received in the future.
Since that time, one of the officers, who now holds the rank of inspector, has continued to counsel and support the family.
Another detective involved in the matter told this masthead on Sunday night that Neil was “very credible” and that his teachers and principal had said he was a “very good student”.
The 10-bedroom homestead at Fitzroy Falls that Jones sold this year.
The detective also said that because Jones was such a high-profile person, “head office wanted a briefing straight away”. In the end, Neil Ogden decided that he didn’t want to pursue the matter. The police respected his decision, said the officer.
In response to a series of questions on Sunday night, a police spokeswoman said there was no current investigation into Jones but the force “supports victims of all [alleged crimes] – whether recent or historical – to come forward and report”.
The spokesperson did not address questions about why Webb had wrongly told reporters on Friday that no complaints had been received in relation to Jones.
In June this year, the Ogdens were shocked to see Jones presiding over a graduation from the Talent Development Project, which fosters talented government high school musicians and is part-funded by the NSW Education Department.
Jenny Ogden immediately contacted one of the detectives she and her son had been dealing with following the alleged 2017 incident at Jones’ Southern Highlands estate.
In an email to the detective, the mother said: “We attended the Talent Development Project at ICC last night to support a friend who was graduating. This is run through the Department of Education. Prior to going we obviously had no idea who the members of the board were; the chairman spoke last night. It was Alan Jones.”
She alleged: “It is the first time either of us have seen him since the incident. I asked [Neil] how he felt. He said he can’t stop living or going places because of him, but a poignant thing he said was ‘I’ll never forget it!’.”
Her email to the detective also alleged: “We were both troubled that he had a position with the DoE. I’m not sure if anything can be done, but letting you know seemed to me a sensible idea.”
Jenny Ogden later sent an email, dated June 25, to Department of Education secretary Murat Dizdar, telling him she and her son were “confronted” by the sight of Jones at the TDP event and had contacted police.
“It is my responsibility to inform you of my son’s experience some years ago,” she wrote. She forwarded to the top bureaucrat a previous email to the department in January 2020 which alleged Jones had indecently assaulted her son.
Having received no response, Jenny Ogden sent a second email to Dizdar on November 9. This time, Dizdar replied, saying he had made inquiries and “I understand the initial allegations made were thoroughly investigated and it was found that there was insufficient evidence to sustain them”.
However, Jenny Ogden then asked Dizdar what inquiries had been made to the police about her son’s allegations as the detectives looking into the matter told her they’d received no contact from the department.
This masthead on Sunday asked the Department of Education a series of questions, including what actions it undertook after being alerted to the 2017 allegation of indecent assault made against Jones.
A spokesperson said in a statement: “In 2017 a report was made to NSW Police after a principal was informed of an alleged incident that had occurred off school grounds.
“The department was informed by [a specialist squad] that the allegations had been investigated and no charges laid.”
Jones stepped down as chairman of TDP last Friday, a day after this masthead revealed he had allegedly preyed on young men and indecently assaulted them. Jones denies all the claims and has threatened to sue the Herald and The Age.
The alleged victims, who revealed their encounters with Jones in the initial investigation published last week, indicated they would co-operate with any subsequent police probe.
One of the alleged victims, a musician, said that Jones had obtained his number as a teenage participant in TDP. He said that Jones, who was on the TDP board, frequently invited high school students to perform on his radio show or at private events that he hosted.
“There is another side to him that people don’t know about,” said the musician, who was in his 20s when Jones – 40 years his senior – invited him to his Circular Quay apartment overlooking the Sydney Opera House. He presumed he was going to a dinner party and was startled to find himself alone with Jones. The musician found it difficult to discuss what happened.
They were listening to music when Jones produced a dressing gown suggesting the musician might feel “more casual” if he put it on. He alleged Jones “didn’t initiate. He just did it. He just grabs you and kisses you all over.” Asked how it made him feel, the musician replied “scared shitless”. Jones denies the allegations.
Talent Development Project Foundation chief executive Anne Fitzgerald said: “If we were to receive a complaint, we would commit to an investigation and to complying with all our mandatory reporting requirements including reporting to the NSW Police.”
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