Crimewatch host faces outcry over his views on rape: Presenter defends claim that 'we can aggravate crime by tempting fate' Ross forced to defend himself after a backlash against his new book Insisted the book was 'serious, carefully researched and evidence-based' Former Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross faced a storm of protest yesterday after he appeared to suggest women could "aggravate" their risk of being raped. The broadcaster likened women who dressed and behaved provocatively to banks storing cash by the front door, or motorists leaving laptops on the back seat of their cars. He insisted he was not blaming victims - saying "No amount of temptation can excuse rape" - but questioned whether some women chose not to pursue complaints because they felt partly responsible. In an extract from his new book, published in the Mail on Sunday, he said: "Rape victims were once treated appallingly, as though it was all their fault, but have we now gone too far the other way? Mr Ross, 65, who presented Crimewatch from 1984 to 2007, provoked outrage among campaigners against rape and on social networking sites. He said the Mail on Sunday had misquoted him in its headline, which said "Not all women are victims and not all rape is rape," but said the edited extract was fair. Campaigners described his remarks as "outdated and ridiculous" and former Conservative MP Louise Mensch described the extract as "pretty damning." Another former Crimewatch presenter, Jacqui Hames, said on Twitter: "Struggling to match the man I know with the comments!!!! What on earth is going on? But Mr Ross also received several messages of support, including one from a woman who described herself as "a multiple victim." In his book Crime, serialised in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Ross described how former Justice Secretary Ken Clarke faced outcry in 2011 when he used the phrase "serious rape." Mr Ross wrote: "It has become sacrilege to suggest that there can be any gradation: rape is rape. Half of all women who had had penetrative sex unwillingly do not think they were raped, and this proportion rises strongly when the assault involves a boyfriend, or if the woman is drunk or high on drugs: they led him on, they went too far, it wasn't forcible, they didn't make themselves clear... Mr Ross said the book was "serious, carefully researched and evidence-based" and an attempt to have a reasoned debate about a sensitive subject. He told the Daily Mail: "Of course I do not compare a woman to a laptop. That is nothing short of misrepresentation of my message. What I am saying is that opportunity and temptation are key factors in all crimes, and so far as the evidence goes sex crimes are no exception. Far from blaming people my book says we are too quick to blame, and that it tends to distract us from finding solutions to crime.