Former BBC newsreader Jan Leeming (pictured) has revealed how she was left ‘nauseated’ by an ‘intimate frisk’ at Heathrow
Former BBC newsreader Jan Leeming has revealed how she was left ‘nauseated’ by an ‘intimate frisk’ at Heathrow.
Writing on her blog, the 75-year-old, left, said she felt ‘violated’ by the recent search by a female airport security officer. ‘I had kept on a rather heavy silver necklace and it set off the security – fine.
‘So far so good. But the woman who frisked me was more than intrusive. Instead of the pat-down one usually receives, I had my whole body “rubbed” and she even put her hand down the back of my trousers.’
She added: ‘The hand down the trousers was possibly because of my HRT [hormone replacement therapy] patch but I found the whole experience nauseating – however it has not “ruined my life”.’
In the same posting – entitled ‘sexual harassment’ – Ms Leeming also revealed how she was ‘goosed’ by a stranger on an escalator at St Pancras Station in London last year.
She said some recent high-profile allegations of sexual harassment were ‘clouding the real, sickening, and appalling cases of rape and abuse’.
Ms Leeming, who recently starred in Channel 4’s Celebrity First Dates, said she had experienced a number of inappropriate sexual advances at work but none had affected her life adversely.
Heathrow said it regretted that her security screening ‘may have fallen short’ of its expected standards.
Ms Leeming began her career in the early 1970s as an actress and TV host in Australia and New Zealand, before returning to Britain.
She presented the BBC show Pebble Mill At One between 1974 and 1979 and then became a newsreader throughout the 1980s.
In 1982, she hosted the Eurovision Song Contest.
She wound down her TV career in the 1990s but made odd appearances now and then.
Writing on her blog, the 75-year-old, left, said she felt ‘violated’ by the recent search by a female airport security officer. ‘I had kept on a rather heavy silver necklace and it set off the security – fine
Her big TV comeback was in 2006, when she went on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
In 2010, she took part in Come Dine With Me Celebrity Special on Channel 4, before trying out life in India for the BBC’s The Real Marigold Hotel in 2016.
This year she has been looking for love on Celebrity First Dates to raise awareness for Stand Up To Cancer.