Veteran BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall has admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls aged between nine and 17.

The Crown Prosecution Service said he was an "opportunistic predator" and almost all the victims provided "strikingly similar accounts".

The CPS also said the victims did not know each other and Hall's pattern of behaviour was "unlawful".

Hall, 83, admitted 14 charges of indecent assault and the offences took place between 1967 and 1985.

He entered the guilty pleas last month at Preston Crown Court but they can only be revealed now after reporting restrictions were lifted.

He had previously denied any wrongdoing, telling reporters the claims were "pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious".

He said he had endured "a living nightmare" and but for his "very loving family" may have considered taking his own life.

In court in Preston, Hall calmly and repeatedly answered "guilty" when the charges were put to him at the hearing on April 16.

He admitted touching and kissing 13 young victims over nearly two decades, many were daughters of friends.

The Recorder of Preston, Judge Anthony Russell QC, told him he would be required to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

Hall was granted bail until his sentencing date on June 17 and judge Russell told him all sentencing options remain open including immediate custody.

Hall's barrister, Crispin Aylett QC, said: "The defendant is, of course, sorry for what he has done. Through me he wishes to apologise to his victims.

"He is not a man easily moved to self pity but he is only too aware his disgrace is complete."

Hall was told he must live and sleep at his Wilmslow home in Cheshire and have no unsupervised contact with girls under 18.

Hall did not comment on the case as he left court accompanied by his legal team, saying only to waiting reporters that he had a "terrible cold".

He was surrounded by a media scrum as he was led into a waiting taxi.

Outside court, Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for the North West, said: "We prosecuted Stuart Hall because the evidence of the victims clearly established a pattern of behaviour that was unlawful and for which no innocent explanation could be offered.

"His victims did not know each other and almost two decades separated the first and last assaults but almost all of the victims, including one who was only nine at the time of the assault, provided strikingly similar accounts.

"Whether in public or private, Hall would first approach under friendly pretences and then bide his time until the victim was isolated. He can only be described as an opportunistic predator."

An order made under Section 4(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 was lifted so that the pleas could be reported.

It was to avoid prejudicing a possible future trial on a count of rape and three separate counts of indecent assault which Hall had denied last month.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said the Crown was satisfied those four counts could lie on file after it was given consideration at "the most senior level" of the Crown Prosecution Service.

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