Taylor Swift hires sexual assault expert for harassment trial

Taylor Swift has asked a gender studies professor to give evidence against a radio DJ she alleges sexually assaulted her.

David Mueller sued the star in 2015, claiming she had falsely accused him of groping her at a 2013 event and that as a result he lost his job at Denver, Colorado, radio station KYGO.

Swift, 27, responded by filing a countersuit accusing him of sexual assault and battery.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Blank Space singer has asked Lorraine Bayard de Volo, a gender studies professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, to present an analysis profiling Mueller's character.

Last Thursday (11May17) the DJ's attorney Gabriel McFarland filed a motion requesting Bayard de Volo's evidence be excluded from the trial as she is not a qualified psychologist and has not met their client.

"She has never before served as an expert witness, and apparently has no training in psychology. Nonetheless, according to Ms. Bayard de Volo's written report, she intends to opine that Mr. Mueller had the profile of a person likely to sexually assault women,” McFarland writes in the motion.

The professor's evidence reportedly states that Mueller fitted the profile of a person who may commit sexual assault as his "masculine status" was threatened by not being treated as a VIP when meeting the singer.

In the motion McFarland has accused Bayard de Volo of making "extreme generalisations" about her client in her report and asked that a judge rule it inadmissible as evidence.

The trial is scheduled to begin in Denver on 7 August (17).