Former DJ Dave Lee Travis wins court battle
Print Edition
Dave Lee Travis, one of Britain’s best-known radio DJs in the 1970s and 1980s, was yesterday cleared of a string of sexual offenses against women over three decades.
The 68-year-old former BBC Radio 1 DJ was the first aging celebrity to go on trial as a direct result of a probe launched after police revealed that the late Jimmy Savile, one of the BBC’s top TV presenters, had been a prolific child sex offender.
Travis had been accused of 14 charges involving 11 women between 1976 and 2008. The jury at the London court cleared him of 12 offenses but was unable to reach a verdict on one charge of indecent assault and one of sexual assault. Prosecutors were given a week to decide whether to seek a re-trial.
“I’m not over the moon about any of this today. I don’t feel like there’s a victory in any way, shape or form,” Travis told reporters outside court. He said he had been through a year-and-a-half of hell, lost his reputation and had been forced to sell his house to fight the charges.
The trial was told that Travis, whose real name is David Patrick Griffin, had been told the former DJ had groped the breasts of a BBC employee while she was introducing a radio program, and heard he had indecently assaulted a teenager in 1978 during filming for the “Top of the Pops.” Travis had denied all the accusations, describing himself as a “big, hairy, cuddly bear” who was tactile but not a sexual predator. He accused the women of making up the claims to make money.
“I have had one trial by media and one trial by crown court. And I have to say in all honesty that I prefer trial by the crown court,” Travis said.
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