Dave Lee Travis told a court the sex offence allegations against him as "lies, out and out" and expressed concern they would divert attention away from real victims By Agencies3:57PM GMT 28 Jan 2014
Veteran DJ Dave Lee Travis told a jury the sexual offence charges against him were “completely insane” and would divert attention away from genuine victims of abuse.
The former BBC presenter denied allegations he was filmed groping a young female fan while presenting Top Of The Pops claiming it would have killed his career “stone dead”.
Travis, who is accused of indecently assaulting 10 women and sexually assaulting another, said he had no recollection of the incident in which he is accused of putting his hand up a teenager’s skirt during a live show in 1978.
He told jurors at Southwark Crown Court: “That is a completely insane claim, and it's especially insane because I've seen the video."
Asked by Stephen Vullo, defending, what the effect would have been on his career if he had done it, Travis said: "It would have killed it stone dead.
Related Articles
Former Deutsche Bank executive among 'finest minds' in field found dead
28 Jan 2014
News of the World reporter told: 'Jump off cliff if you can't get stories', trial hears
28 Jan 2014
Sex offence claims are 'nonsense', Dave Lee Travis tells jurors
28 Jan 2014
Bill Roache: I can't recall ever meeting those making sex assault allegations against me
28 Jan 2014
Great-grandmother, 76, shoplifted because she was 'bored of being old'
28 Jan 2014
“If I had been caught doing that in the Top Of The Pops studio I should have thought the book would have been thrown at me and I would have been out of the BBC.”
The 68-year-old said that as a presenter he was the "lowest of the low" compared to the show's director and production team and there was no way that the footage would have been adapted by them so the alleged assault could not be seen by viewers.
He said: “I would have no power whatsoever.”
Appearing under his birth name David Griffin, Travis, from Mentmore, Bucks, denies all the charges which date back to 1976.
He said: “Personally the one thing that's been going through my mind since this trial started is that I'm sorry about this trial being the way it is.
“I know this is only a lot of nonsense.
“I just feel that the women who really have been attacked, women who have been at home and been through mental abuse by their husbands or beaten up by anybody else or really attacked - because this has been going on with me - it makes it less likely that real problems are going to be looked at.”
He was questioned about the offences alleged to have taken place when he was working as a BBC DJ and Top Of The Pops host, as a broadcaster with Classic Gold radio and when starring in panto.
Travis said he took his job seriously and that, even though working in showbusiness was fun, "it is a business nevertheless".
He dismissed claims he assaulted a teenager in his Radio 1 studio during a live broadcast as “lies, out and out” and said he could not remember any such incident.
"I don't have to recall that as it never happened," he added.
He protested after being asked whether he had ever cheated on his wife, to whom he has been married since 1971, claiming it bore no relevance to the case.
But questioned further by Mr Vullo if he had ever "fallen into temptation", Travis admitted he had "once or twice".
“Of course, I'm human," he told the court.
"Consensual, if I might add."
Asked jurors to "think logically about it" he went on: “If these women supposedly are chasing after me because I was the pop star of the day, the question would have to be, why would I go and assault somebody?
"I don't like the idea of assaulting women in any way, shape or form."
Asked about claims that he put his hand up a woman's skirt in front of the organiser of a Norwich Union event he was working at, Travis said he "should be committed somewhere" if that had happened because it would have been bad for business.
He added: "It didn't, by the way.”
The court heard that he was alleged to have indecently assaulted a woman who was working as a stage hand on a pantomime he featured in.
He said: “I can only say what I know and the way I feel about things.
If I had sexually assaulted this girl in my dressing room, I would fully expect her to go and tell her boss and the boss would tell the person running the panto and that would immediately get me in big trouble."
He dismissed the idea that she would have decided not to complain because he was a celebrity.
He said: “You are never too big in this industry, you can be knocked over very quickly and I don't believe in taking risks with my business and I certainly don't believe in attacking young girls.”
He was also questioned about allegations that he grabbed the breasts of a female journalist who came to interview him at his house after asking if she would pose for photographs.
Asked if they were true he said: “No, of course not.”
He added: “I'm not likely to get somebody to agree to do a photograph with me if I'm putting my hands all over them. It's just not the way it works."
He also denied claims heard yesterday that he groped another journalist.
"After this I will never have an interview with a female again without somebody else sitting there with me," he said.
"It just breaks my heart."
Law and OrderNews »UK News »Crime »
In Law and Order
View the
Original article
