Halpern sexual assault trial delayed again

Just days before he was due to appear in court facing two charges of sexual assault, the Crown Court trial of Golders Green rabbi Chaim Halpern has been delayed again.

Rabbi Halpern, 66, has denied the charges against him and pleaded not guilty in May 2024. A trial date was set for November 2024, but when the main complainant against him was taken ill and was not thought likely to be out of hospital in time, the trial was delayed for a year — and had been due to start next week, on November 10 2025.

The huge delay was said to be due to a massive backlog in Crown Court cases.

Now, however, due to what his lawyer saId were “disclosure issues”, Rabbi Halpern is not due in court until March 23 2026.

Charged under his birth name of Aaron Halpern, he became the subject of a police investigation after an unnamed woman made allegations against him in an interview broadcast on Israeli TV in December 2022. The alleged offences were said to have taken place on 1 June 2022.