Ex-BBC star Tim Westwood charged with multiple rapes | UK News

The Metropolitan Police have confirmed former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood has been charged with 4 counts of rape, 9 counts of indecent assault and two counts of inappropriate assault, which occurred over a period of 33 years. He is scheduled to seem at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on November 11 to reply the fees. The offences relate to seven girls and women aged as younger as 17.

Westwood was first questioned about the allegations by the police in March 2023. The former BBC Radio 1 DJ, who stepped down from his show on Capital Xtra in April 2022, has beforehand strongly denied any wrongdoing. At the time London’s Metropolitan Police said officers have been investigating accusations of offences alleged to have occurred between 1982 and 2016. They launched a assertion which didn’t identify the DJ. “Police are investigating five reports relating to allegations of non-recent inappropriate offences allegedly committed by a man,” it read.

“The offences are alleged to have occurred in London between 1982 and 2016. A 65-year-old man was interviewed under caution on March 15 2023 and April 4 2023,” it concluded.

The BBC started an exterior inquiry into what was recognized about Westwood’s conduct during his time at the company in 2022.

The impartial report, launched in February this 12 months, led the BBC board to apologise over “missed opportunities” to deal with “bullying and misogynistic behaviour” by Westwood.

It highlighted a sequence of incidents and allegations it said amounted to a “considerable body of evidence” which the company failed to examine correctly.

It claimed the BBC had “inadequate record keeping and communication with people who raised complaints or concerns”, and “an insufficiently rigorous attempt to address the substance of concerns raised”.

The broadcaster had beforehand acknowledged six complaints of bullying and inappropriate misconduct against their former worker. Westwood denied all allegations in a social media video in 2024 saying: “It’s all false allegations.”

Westwood, 68, started his profession on local radio before becoming a member of Capital Radio in London. He then joined the BBC and left Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra in 2013 after practically 20 years.

He then hosted a common Saturday show on Capital Xtra where he was referred to as “The Big Dawg” before leaving the company in 2022.