‘Plymouth solicitor abused me before I appeared in court for murder’

Alan Harris denies all charges against him

A man has told a jury that he was indecently assaulted by a defence solicitor moments before he appeared at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court on the charge of murder.

Alan Harris, 71, from Thorn Park, Plymouth, denies 30 charges and is currently on trial at Winchester Crown Court, Hampshire.

Speaking from the witness box Male G – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – told the jury of nine men and three women that police came to see him in June 2016 at HMP Dartmoor where he was serving a prison sentence for murder. He told the jury that he immediately knew they were police rather than legal representatives.

Male G, who is now in his 40s, said: “They told me ‘you’re not in trouble, we’re here for something else’ and I knew I’d not done anything but I just knew and I went ‘Alan Harris’ and they went ‘Yeah, you’re not alone’.”

Male G told the officers he gave a statement covering an alleged indecent assault by way of touching and kissing at an address in Plymouth sometime between March 2000 and March 2001 and a further incident in the cells under Plymouth Magistrates’ Court where he claimed Harris touched his penis and masturbated him on December 2, 2004.

The jury heard that Male G was introduced to Harris by an older relative who had been in trouble with the authorities and had used Harris as their solicitor. He explained that he himself had begun to get into trouble with police in his early teens with petty theft and drugs and was arrested a number of times, whereupon he was represented by Harris.

He said Harris was “quite warm, very tactile” adding that the solicitor would hug him and pat him on the bottom. He said that when he was “very young” he did not seem to notice the touching but it was not until he got older he began to feel uncomfortable with it.

Male G told the jury that by his late teens he was a heroin user and was associating with drug users. He said he would stay at the house of another male involved in crime in Plymouth. He said Harris visited the house as the other male was also represented by him, but the male left the property to go to the shops.

Male G told the jury that he remained at the house and that Harris came to sit next to him on the sofa. Male G said he was “very small” at that age, whereas Harris had “always been a big guy”. He said Harris “scooped” him up and put him onto his lap “and tried to kiss me”.

Asked by prosecutor Anne Whyte KC if Harris new Male G was a heroin user, Male G said he did because he was his solicitor.

He explained that he was scared of Harris and the situation was “quite intimidating” and that “you know you rely on this guy to help you in the future and I didn’t know how far it was going to go”.

He said he turned his head away and moved back along the sofa. Moments later he heard the vehicle of the resident of the property pull up outside and he left the house.

The jury heard the circumstances surrounding the murder of the man, the resident of the property, which saw Male G charged, convicted and sentenced for the offence. He told the jury that the man he had murdered had sexually assaulted him one night and years later he enacted an assault upon him which led to the man’s death.

He said he was arrested and taken to court as a consequence and was represented by Harris at Plymouth magistrates’ court. He said Harris came to see him in the cell under the court rooms. Male G claimed Harris unzipped his trousers and pulled out his privates before he then attempted to masturbate him.

He said that when Harris began to touch him he “I just froze” adding that he felt like “a little boy again”. He said he did not become aroused and the incident ended when Harris put his privates away and zipped him up again, before patting him “on the backside and saying ‘we’ll see what we can do'”.

Male G said he did not tell anyone as he “would not be believed” adding “I don’t even want to be here today talking about it”.

He told the jury he spoke to another person who approached him in HMP Exeter prison about Harris but did not come forward to police at that time. He said he was also approached by another person in HMP Dartmoor in 2024 about Harris. The jury had previously been told these two people have also made complaints about Harris and were witnesses in the trial.

In answer to questions from defence barrister Christine Agnew KC he said that there was a lot of sex offenders in HMP Dartmoor and the topic was often raised by convicts. He said the issue of sexual assault had ‘dominated’ his life ever since.

Ms Agnew KC suggested Male G had made up the allegations and had “jumped on the bandwagon” after hearing rumours about Harris while in prison. He retorted that the only rumours he had heard were about Harris patting people in the bottom as a kind of joke.

Male G said that he pleaded guilty to the majority of the minor offences such as shoplifting or drug possession offences he appeared in court for. He said that he was now a “completely different person” to who he was when younger.

In answer to questions from Harris’ barrister he said it was easier to “take a life sentence rather than talk about what happened [to him] by [the man he murdered]”.

Ms Agnew KC asked if he recalled the police telling him when they came to speak to him in prison about Harris that they asked if anything had happened to him involving someone involved in “the legal system”.

Male G said he could not remember but added that he knew “straight away” who they were talking about “because of what happened to me”.

Male G told the jury: “There was a time when I couldn’t talk about it. It would take a lot for me to talk about it. But I think you start to get a little more resilient. The more you talk about it the more resilient you get.”

He added that he was able to speak more about it when the police came to him in prison. He said that was what finally made him feel “like it wasn’t my fault”

He told the jury: “It’s strange – you feel like you’ve done something wrong. You feel ashamed, like ‘Is it my fault it happened, did I let off some sort of signal? Did I come across a certain way that invited it?’ But you’re not the guilty one and it takes time to [speak]”.

He said that in hindsight, having ‘grown up’ while in prison and taking a number of educational courses, he now believed the man he eventually ended up murdering had ‘set him up’ to be in Harris’ company at his home when he first claimed he was assaulted by the solicitor.

He insisted he had never spoken to anyone before about what happened with him and Harris in 2000 at the property.

In response to being accused of lying and making the entire complaint up, Male G said: “Miss, I’ve got no reason to by lying to you. This isn’t something that is easy to talk about in front of a load of strangers.”

Ms Agnew KC asked Male G why did he not kill Harris, like he had killed the other man for apparantly sexually assaulting him. Male G replied it was because Harris was “a bit more powerful than [the murdered man] isn’t he?” adding that he was in “shock” and “numb” as to what was going on around him at the court.

Asked about the explanation he gave to police officers when he was arrested for the murder of the man, which was different to the explanation he was now giving in court, he said “I tried saying anything I could to get out of that” adding that he did not know why he said that as his “head was all over the shop… I thought they might think I hadn’t done it.”

Harris is charged with:

* indecent assault of Male A between December 3, 1989 and August 10, 1991

* indecent assault of Male A between December 3, 1989 and August 10, 1991

* indecent assault of Male B between May 4, 1992 and May 10, 2000

* indecent assault of Male B between July 12, 1992 and May 10, 2000

* indecent assault of Male B between May 4, 1992 and May 10, 2000

* indecent assault of Male B between May 4, 1992 and May 10, 2000

* indecent assault of Male B between May 4, 1992 and November 19, 2002

* indecent assault of Male B between July 12, 1992 and May 10, 2000

* buggery of Male B between May 4, 1992 and November 3, 1994

* rape of Male B between November 2, 1994 and November 19, 2002

* indecent assault on more than one occasion of Male C between October 20, 2000 and October 21, 2003

* indecent assault of Male C between October 20, 2000 and October 21, 2003

* indecent assault on more than one occasion of Male D between May 6, 1999 and May 13, 2000

* rape of Male D between May 6, 1999 and May 1, 2004

* rape of Male D between April 30, 2004 and December 31, 2010

* indecent assault on more than one occasion of Male E between October 13, 2002 and May 1, 2004

* sexual assault by intentionally touching on more than one occasion Male E between April 30, 2004 and March 21, 2014

* indecent assault on more than one occasion of Male E between October 13, 2002 and May 1, 2004

* sexual assault by touching on more than one occasion of Male E between April 30, 2004 and March 21, 2014

* indecent assault on more than on occasion of Male F between October 13, 1996 and May 1, 2004

* sexual assault by touching on more than on occasion on Male F between April 30, 2004 and 25 March 2010

* indecent assault on more than one occasion of Male F between October 13, 1996 and May 1, 2004

* sexual assault by touching on more than one occasion of Male F between April 30, 2004 and March 25, 2010

* indecent assault on more than one occasion of Male F between October 13, 1996 and May 1, 2004

* sexual assault by touching on more than one occasion of Male F between April 30, 2004 and March 25, 2010

* indecent assault on Male G between March 1, 2000 and March 10, 2001

* sexual assault by touching on Male G on December 2, 2004

* indecent assault of Male H between October 15, 2001 and May 1, 2004

* sexual assault by touching on Female A on February 6, 2015

* sexual assault by touching of Female A on February 6, 2015

Harris has denied all the charges.

The trial continues.

Support for victims of rape and sexual assault