Widow 'profoundly sorry for what happened'

Late politician and Just A Minute regular Sir Clement Freud has been named as a paedophile.

The star – a grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud – is accused of abusing two underage girls between the 1940s and the 1970s

His widow Jill, 89, said she was ‘deeply saddened and profoundly sorry for what has happened to these women, I sincerely hope they will now have some peace.’

Sylvia Woosley, who first met Freud when she was 10, has come forward to tell ITV’s Exposure programme that he abused her for years.

Another woman, who wants to preserve her anonymity, says the Liberal MP abused her as a child, and raped her when she was 19.

Ms Woosley, now in her late 70s, said the abuse began with a kiss on a bus trip. ‘I was disgusted and helpless. I just didn’t react in any way because I couldn’t,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know what to do.’

She later went to live with the Freuds following the breakdown of her mother’s marriage, and said the broadcaster frequently molested her during the five years she lived there.

And Ms Woosley said she confronted Freud at the House of Commons when she was in her 40s. The MP excused his behaviour saying: ‘Because I loved you. You were a very sensual little girl.’

The other woman said Freud kissed her on the mouth when she was 13, in 1973, and ‘brutally and perfunctorily’ raped her at 18.

Clement Freud came to fame as a celebrity chef, and holds the record for the most number of appearances on Just A Minute, having taken part in 544 episodes including the first one in 1967. He was a Liberal MP from 1973 to 1987, sharing an office with Cyril Smith, who was unmasked as a paedophile after his death. Freud was knighted in 1987. 

His five children include Emma, the TV personality who works with husband Richard Curtis on Comic Relief,  and the wealthy PR guru, Matthew, ex-husband of Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth and one of the so-called  Chipping Norton set.

Sir Clement died at home in 2009, at the age of 84.

• Exposure airs on ITV at 11.05pm tonight.
 

Published: 15 Jun 2016