Dave Lee Travis trial: 'Dirty old man' groped young 'carnival princess' on hospital a ward

 
“Opportunist”: Dave Lee Travis today. He is charged with sex assaults on 10 women and a girl, 15 Picture: Jeremy Selwyn
JEREMY SELWYN
WEST END FINAL

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DJ Dave Lee Travis groped a young "carnival princess" on a hospital ward while he was a celebrity guest at a radio launch, a court heard today.

The 68-year-old, familiar to listeners as DLT, is accused of a string of indecent assaults between 1976 and 2003.

He is also facing one count of sexual assault by touching in 2008.

Today, Southwark crown court heard that in addition to the 11 alleged victims formally included in the charges, four other women had come forward with complaints about the celebrity, including the carnival princess in 1973.

Prosecutor Miranda Moore QC said when the woman was left alone with Travis, he first put his hand around her waist, before putting it inside her "split skirt on her thigh near her knickers".

He then, jurors heard, "grabbed her boobs" at which point she pushed him away feeling "very embarrassed he felt he could do that to her".

Earlier they were told the woman, 20 at the time, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been informed before the event that he was a "big name" and that "what Dave wanted Dave got".

The jury also heard that Travis behaved inappropriately "on a regular basis" while he worked for a regional radio station in the South-east.

The prosecutor said that, according to one of his alleged victims who also worked there: "From the moment he started she recalls he would sexually assault her, she says, on a regular basis."

In one incident he is said to have "slipped his thumb" into a woman's knickers while she was sitting on a desk talking to a colleague.

Ms Moore QC said the woman went "ballistic" and shouted so the whole office could hear: "Don't touch me you are a pervert".

According to the prosecutor, another woman, who claims she was assaulted by Travis on two separate occasions while they danced at British Airways functions, described the presenter as a "dirty old man".

As well as detailing the charges, the jury was shown a picture of a Christmas lunch for DJs dating from 1980 in which Travis can be seen sitting next to Jimmy Savile.

Travis, whose real name is David Patrick Griffin, was living in Mentmore in Buckinghamshire but has recently moved house and has been allowed not to give his new address in open court by Judge Anthony Leonard.

The charges the former Radio One DJ faces are:

:: One count of indecent assault on a woman between January 1 1976 and December 31 1977;

:: One count of indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl on June 17 1978;

:: One count of indecent assault on a woman on June 29 1978;

:: One count of indecent assault on a woman between January 1 1981 and December 31 1983;

:: One count of indecent assault on a woman between January 1 1983 and March 2 1984;

:: One count of indecent assault on a woman between January 1 1983 and December 31 1984;

:: One count of indecent assault on a woman between November 1 1990 and January 31 1991;

:: Two counts of indecent assault on a woman between November 1 1992 and January 1 1993;

:: Three counts of indecent assault on a woman between January 1 2000 and December 31 2003;

:: One count of indecent assault on a woman between January 1 2000 and December 31 2003;

:: One count of sexual assault on a woman between June 1 2008 and November 30 2008.

The charges relate to 11 alleged victims - 10 women and one 15-year-old girl.

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing since he was first arrested on suspicion of sexual offences last November.

He was first charged in August as part of Operation Yewtree, the police investigation prompted by the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal, but the accusations against Travis have no connection to the disgraced television presenter.

He was charged with additional counts in October.

The trial is due to last up to six weeks.

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