PR guru Max Clifford has said indecent assault accusations are "a very dark cloud" over him as he prepares to face trial.
The 70-year-old denies 11 charges relating to seven alleged victims, aged from 14 to 19, between 1966 and 1984.
Yesterday, jury selection began at Southwark Crown Court and it is expected that the prosecution case will be opened by Rosina Cottage QC today.
Outside court, Mr Clifford said the 15 months since his arrest had aged him. He said: "It has been for 15 months a very dark cloud for myself, my family and loved ones."
Eighteen potential jurors were chosen yesterday from a pool of about 60 and a final panel is due to be sworn in today.
Mr Clifford, from Hersham in Surrey, listened to proceedings through a hearing loop from the glass-walled dock.
Judge Anthony Leonard QC told the potential jurors: "The trial cannot be heard without a jury.
"It is a fundamental principle of our justice system that someone accused of a serious offence is tried by a jury selected at random."
He said sitting on a trial expected to last up to six weeks might be "a considerable burden", but that jurors might find service "an interesting and responsible" experience.
Clifford, whose clients include Simon Cowell, was arrested in December 2012 and charged last April.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article