Veteran broadcaster Alan Jones has been taken into custody by New South Wales police following an investigation into allegations of indecent assault and sexual touching – dating back almost 20 years. Detectives from the child abuse squad have executed a warrant at Mr Jones' luxury apartment at Circular Quay.
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00:00Around 11.15 this morning that Jones arrived here at the Day Street Police Station in Central
00:07Street in the back of an unmarked police car.
00:11He sat in the back of that vehicle wearing a green jumper and he was stone faced, cold,
00:15looked emotionless as the media pack swarmed around the vehicle and those flashes from
00:20those BIC cameras came out and you could see that he was looking pretty blankly out forward
00:26into the media pack that surrounded that vehicle.
00:28Now it was earlier this morning that Jones received a knock at the door at about 7.45
00:32at his luxury apartment in Circular Quay where detectives from New South Wales Police executed
00:38a search warrant which they say was in relation to an investigation into multiple alleged
00:44sexual assaults and incidents of sexual touching which they say apparently took place between
00:502001 and 2019 and it was at his luxury apartment where he was arrested and eventually transported
00:56here to the Day Street Police Station.
00:58In terms of how significant this is, Alan Jones has held a powerful position in Australia's
01:04media landscape over the last decade.
01:06He's most well known for his time hosting the Breakfast radio show on 2GB in Sydney
01:12and of course he was a host of Sky News as well.
01:16He did that for around 18 years before he retired in 2020.
01:21Since then he's also been hosting on Sky News but then his contract wasn't renewed in late
01:262021.
01:27He was also the former coach of the Australian Wallaby side back in the 1980s.
01:33This just goes to show how extensive this investigation could be for New South Wales
01:38Police and the allegations at hand which were first aired by Australia's nine newspapers
01:43who say that a number of men had come forward with multiple alleged incidents against Jones
01:49over his time in different careers, Ross.
01:52Authorities have described this as a very complex investigation, Ethan.
01:57That's right, Ross.
01:58That came from the New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb herself who said this
02:02has been a very long investigation.
02:05As I said, over a decade of, two decades of material that they're potentially looking
02:09at here.
02:10That's possibly why that search warrant at his circular key home this morning took so
02:14long.
02:16We heard from Karen Webb earlier this morning in Wollongong as well as Premier Chris Mintz
02:20who didn't want to comment on the situation.
02:22Here's what Commissioner Webb had to say earlier this morning.
02:26I did visit the strike force some weeks and months ago to look at the work that they have
02:32been doing.
02:33It is very complex and protracted and I know that those officers have been working tirelessly
02:40to lead to today's operation.
02:43There's no such thing as a matter that's too old to be investigated and there are many
02:49officers and I know I've done so myself where I've investigated a matter that was over 35
02:54years old and got a conviction.
02:56So what I'd say to victims is that there is no better time to come forward than now and
03:04you will be listened to and we will take your matter seriously.
03:09Now a large media circus remains here outside the Day Street Police Station in Sydney.
03:15We understand he's currently being questioned by detectives from the NSW Child Abuse Squad.
03:21We've also seen a number of detectives file into the police station as well as Alan Jones'
03:26legal team.
03:28Now police are expected to give an update later today with some of those details.
03:32He's expected to be formally charged later today.