Langham witness 'misled jurors'

Chris Langham has denied the charges against him

A key witness in the indecent assault trial of comedy actor Chris Langham has been recalled to court after his evidence was disputed. Fellow actor James Urquhart denied a prosecution claim that he had misled Maidstone Crown Court about how well he knew the alleged victim.
Mr Langham, 58, from Kent, denies indecent assault and a serious sexual offence on a girl under 18.
He also denies 15 counts of making an indecent image of a child in 2005.
Mr Urquhart, who uses the stage name Jeff Leyton, played the lead role in Les Miserables at London's Palace theatre 11 years ago while Mr Langham was appearing in the show.
Witness room
Mr Langham's dressing room is said by the alleged victim, now aged 25, to have been the scene of numerous sexual encounters between them.
Mr Urquhart told Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday he had only seen the woman at the theatre about three times.
But on Friday, the jury was told that Victim Support volunteer Sheila Rimmer went to the police after seeing her with Mr Urquhart in the witness room at the court.
"She let out an exclamation and ran into this man's arms and she gave him a big, big hug," she said.
"He was stroking her hand and patting her shoulder. It was very warm. He was consoling her very warmly and emotionally.
"It appeared to me that it was a reunion of two people who liked each other a lot, after a long time."
Mr Urquhart denied prosecutor Richard Barraclough's accusation that he had tried to mislead the jury.
"She was crying on my shoulder," he said, admitting consoling her. "That's in my nature."
Comedy writer and actor Paul Whitehouse is due to appear as a prosecution witness when the trial resumes on Monday.
Mr Whitehouse appeared in the comedy drama Help, playing different patients seen by a psychotherapist played by Mr Langham.
ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6908724.stm

 Child porn 'on Langham's laptop'

Chris Langham denies all the charges against him

A computer taken from the home of comedy actor Chris Langham contained graphic child porn material, a court has heard. Christopher Crute, a forensic computer analyst for Kent Police, said some of the files on the laptop referred to "pre-teen hardcore" content.
He was giving evidence at Maidstone Crown Court in the trial of Mr Langham, who lives at Golford, near Cranbrook.
The actor claims the pornography was downloaded as research for a TV show.
The 58-year-old denies 15 counts of making an indecent photograph of a child between September and November 2005.
Police recovered the Apple laptop from Mr Langham's home along with a desktop PC and an external disk drive.
Addressing jurors on Monday, Judge Philip Statman warned them: "It is vital that when you look at that which you are about to see, which you will find graphic, you take a cool, calm and dispassionate view of this evidence."
Explicit website
Mr Crute then told them that file names on the laptop made reference to children as young as seven, while some included the words Lolita, incest and rape.
He also explained that the acronym PTHC on some of the files meant "pre-teen hardcore".
The police expert said he found log-in details on Mr Langham's computer for an explicit website, with a subscription cost of £29.95.
Paul Whitehouse is now due to give evidence on Tuesday


The username "belaza" and password "zangler" referred to the character Bela Zangler played by Mr Langham in a musical in the 1990s, prosecutor Richard Barraclough QC said.
Defence counsel, David Whitehouse QC, said his client downloaded the pornographic material from the internet as research for the BBC television series Help.
One episode written by Mr Langham involved his psychiatrist character seeing a paedophile.
Mr Crute said he found scripts for the programme among the actor's computer folders.
Co-star Paul Whitehouse was due to enter the witness box for the prosecution on Monday, but he had to be asked to return on Tuesday.
Judge Statman said to him: "Would it be possible sir for you to return tomorrow morning, as you can see it is now very late and you must be aware it is very important."
Mr Whitehouse replied: "Well, if I have to, yeah."
Mr Langham is also on trial for indecent assault and two counts of a serious sexual offence on a girl aged under 18, all of which he denies.
BBC NEWS | England | Kent | Child porn 'on Langham's laptop'