Tech tycoon TV star Doug Richard charged with child sex offences

Ex-Dragons' Den dragon, and founder of a number of Cambridge startups Doug Richard has been charged with child sex offences.

The charges include three counts of sexual activity with a child and one of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Caroline Hughes, a Crown Prosecution Service reviewing lawyer from their London team, said in a statement:

We have carefully considered the evidence gathered by City of London Police in relation to Douglas Richard, 57, who was arrested on 5th January this year.

Having completed our review, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Douglas Richard to be charged with three counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The alleged offences occurred on 2nd January 2015 and relate to one victim aged 13 at the time.

Richard, was a dragon on the BBC2 programme for the first two series of the BBC show and has also been a business adviser to the government. He is the co-founder of the Cambridge Angels and chairman of the Conservative Party's small business task force.

Richard founded TruTap, which was the equivalent of WhatsApp in the pre-smartphone era. Before that he founded Visual Software, which was sold to Micrografx and which in turn was subsequently acquired by Canadian software company Corel. He later started Library House, an information company which was well-known on the startup circuit at the time of the dotcom boom and which later folded in 2008. Richard was also a regular speaker at conferences.

He will appear before City of London Magistrates' Court on 5 October. ®