The famend DJ Tim Westwood has been accused of sexual misconduct by a number of ladies who declare he misused his place within the music business to benefit from them.

Three ladies have accused the DJ of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour, whereas 4 others allege they had been groped by him at occasions.

The ladies, who had been of their late teenagers or early 20s after they say the incidents occurred, described their experiences to the Guardian and BBC Information as a part of a joint investigation into the previous BBC Radio 1 DJ.

The earliest alleged incident happened in 1992; the newest in 2017.

One of many ladies mentioned: “Somebody benefiting from my naivety and insecurity isn’t one thing that I ought to have to hold with disgrace.”

Westwood has strenuously denied all of the allegations. A spokesperson mentioned they had been utterly false and denied of their entirety.

In response to the allegations on Tuesday the BBC mentioned it was “shocked”. A spokesperson mentioned: “The BBC is in opposition to all types of inappropriate behaviour and we’re shocked to listen to of those allegations. The BBC has strict codes of conduct for all these engaged by the BBC, together with on-air presenters.”

The ladies, who’re all black, determined to inform their tales within the aftermath of nameless allegations of inappropriate behaviour about Westwood circulating on social media in June 2020.

In a press release on the time, Westwood denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations on-line had been fabricated, false and with out basis.

The Guardian and BBC, which has launched a documentary on BBC Three concerning the story, have since spoken to seven ladies who make a variety of separate allegations concerning the DJ’s conduct.

Among the ladies say they felt unable to speak about their experiences earlier than. They feared their accounts wouldn’t be taken critically as a result of they had been so younger on the time the alleged incidents occurred – and that racial discrimination would additionally lead individuals to minimise, dismiss or ignore their claims.

Three of the ladies have accused Westwood of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour after they agreed to satisfy him, pondering they might be discussing the music business or their very own work. They had been 17, 19 and 20 on the time of the alleged incidents.

An extra 4 ladies declare the DJ groped them whereas they had been having an image taken with him after certainly one of his nightclub performances.

The Guardian and BBC know the identities of all the ladies, who usually are not identified to one another and have by no means spoken. Not one of the ladies had reported their interactions to the police; all have requested to stay nameless.

Now 64, Westwood has been one of many best-known names in hip-hop and rap within the UK for the previous 40 years. He turned the style’s unmistakable voice when he began internet hosting BBC Radio 1’s first Rap Present in 1994, credited with giving recent expertise an unparalleled platform whereas attractive the largest rappers on this planet – from Public Enemy to Jay-Z – onto his present.

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Westwood has at all times courted a level of controversy, typically taking part in to a bad-boy picture with on-mic banter that may be provocative and sexually express. In 1999, he was injured in a drive-by capturing, with one bullet going by the seat of the automobile he was in and one other by his arm.

He turned a key determine in black music within the UK and was named greatest DJ on the Mobo (Music of Black Origin) awards a number of instances.

After 20 years, the self-styled Huge Dawg, left Radio 1, as a part of a shake-up of its Saturday night time schedule, and now hosts a present on Capital Xtra in addition to common membership nights.

A supply on the BBC mentioned the allegations had been “appalling and disturbing” and mentioned the company was not “sitting on” any info that will support an investigation into the previous Radio 1 DJ.

Attorneys appearing for Westwood mentioned he was a well-respected and extremely profitable DJ. They mentioned he strenuously denied of their entirety the intense allegations being made in opposition to him.

“Any suggestion that he acts, or has acted, in the way in which described could be false and critically defamatory.” They mentioned he wished to clarify that he didn’t behave within the method described.

The Guardian has approached International, the father or mother firm of Capital Xtra, the place Westwood is at present employed, for remark.

The ladies

Isabel

Isabel* was 19 when she says she was the sufferer of Westwood’s alleged predatory behaviour in 2010. He was 53 on the time. The college graduate described eager to pursue a profession in music – she grew up within the Midlands, singing gospel and writing her personal songs.

When she found Westwood was DJing at a nightclub in her house city in 2010, she says she hoped to get her music into his arms. “At that second, he was the principle gatekeeper for entry to what I wanted to do,” she says.

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She described to the Guardian and BBC placing collectively a demo CD, together with her contact particulars inside, and says she went to the nightclub, supported by her greatest good friend and stepmother.

Isabel says they managed to present the CD to the DJ, who, to her pleasure, referred to as her the following day and advised assembly in London. “We had been pondering that it is a actually good lead at this level,” she says. “He needs to behave on this shortly.”

She says a couple of days later she took the prepare to London for a day assembly and met Westwood at Oxford Circus, the place he picked her up in his automobile. Isabel says her “full assumption” was that they had been going someplace to speak about her music. “The cellphone name was the one interplay we’d had earlier than that,” she says. “There was nothing flirtatious or romantic concerning the nature of the dialog.”

However she says that when the journey lasted longer than she anticipated and her environment turned unfamiliar, she began to grow to be anxious. “We bought within the automobile. He made probably the most minimal quantity of small discuss. I may inform that he wasn’t notably within the music factor,” she says.

Isabel says she was trying away from him however then turned to seek out Westwood had undone his trousers and was exposing himself.

“I didn’t truly see him undo his trousers. What alerted me to the truth that he was exposing himself was the truth that he truly tapped me to show round to look. I’ve appeared and I’ve seen and I’m like, ‘Oh, no, oh no, like, oh my God’,” she says.

Isabel says she felt scared however unable to get herself out of the state of affairs. She says they arrived at a flat, which she believes was his, the place he provided her a drink – which she refused.

It was on this flat, which Isabel says was strewn with data, that she claims she was the sufferer of a second episode of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour.

She claims that when Westwood got here again from getting himself a drink in one other room, he was bare.

“That’s after I seen that he’s bought a condom and he’s eliminated it [from the packet] and began placing it on,” she says, including that she recognised the condom from a marketing campaign Westwood had performed with the model Durex – which he promoted at occasions.

“I bear in mind the packet as a result of they’d this slogan on it. That they had his face on the opposite aspect,” she says. “I bear in mind him throwing it down. I bear in mind the truth that it was yellow. Like, I keep in mind that very vividly as a result of I keep in mind that was type of when my mind additionally began to close down.”

She says Westwood initiated intercourse, and though she didn’t vocalise her misgivings, she was “frozen”.

“I didn’t have any type of guard up for that state of affairs,” she says. “It’s all very reactive … as a result of it’s simply occurring. And the shock issue of it’s so overwhelming that it type of disorientates the remainder of the way in which you assume. It’s such as you’re surprised.”

Isabel says Westwood then left the room. When he returned she had her bag on her lap to point she wished to go away, and he took her to a prepare station.

She says that as he dropped her off he tried to present her certainly one of his combine CDs however she refused.

Isabel says she felt “silly” on the prepare journey house. “I simply bear in mind feeling so deflated. So unhappy. Feeling actually ashamed of myself and unhealthy.”

She says she remembers getting a textual content message from her good friend who had been ready to listen to how the assembly had gone.

“I didn’t say what occurred however I despatched a textual content to let her know like we didn’t hear, it didn’t occur. We didn’t take heed to my music … it’s not gone down like that.”

Isabel’s stepmother advised the BBC and Guardian the entire household had been enthusiastic about Isabel assembly the DJ, hoping for a breakthrough in her profession. However she knew instinctively that one thing “was improper” when her stepdaughter wouldn’t discuss concerning the assembly.

However she says after she heard Isabel’s story, she felt responsible for not chaperoning her – and says she cried when Isabel disclosed that her silence was partly because of fears that her household could be disenchanted in her.

Like others the Guardian and BBC spoke to, Isabel says she turned conscious in 2020 of allegations being made by ladies on social media alleging misconduct by Westwood.

Isabel says she is telling her story now as a result of she felt what had occurred to her was an abuse of the DJ’s place.

“It’s a privilege to have the ability to do what you like as a job and it’s a privilege to be given a platform to do it on,” she says. “So it’s an enormous violation once you abuse that.”

Westwood has strenuously denied appearing within the method described by Isabel.

Pamela

Pamela’s* story shares similarities with Isabel’s. Now in her 40s, Pamela was 20 when she says she first met the DJ by buddies. It was 2000 and she or he was lively within the youth rap scene, working with aspiring younger musicians. The DJ – then in his 40s – wished to attach with a youthful viewers and requested her to do work expertise with him, she says.

She says he reassured her mom on the cellphone, and Pamela travelled to London to satisfy him for work expertise. However when Westwood picked her up from King’s Cross prepare station in a big American-style automobile he quickly started touching her leg and face whereas he was driving, she alleges.

She says whereas she was batting his hand away he was not concentrating on the street and was driving erratically. A police officer on a motorcycle pulled up alongside the automobile and knocked on the passenger window. Pamela says she sat in silence as Westwood apologised and was advised to maintain his eyes on the street.

Pamela says she had anticipated to remain on her personal in a lodge, though this had not been mentioned, and as an alternative she says he drove her to what she understood to be his flat. “For those who’re going to do an internship someplace, you’re not anticipating for that individual to take you to their home. That’s unprofessional,” she says.

After some hours, the DJ sat subsequent to her and tried to kiss her neck and take away objects of her clothes, she says, including that she moved away, making an attempt to exchange them. “I didn’t give him any type of come-on. There was no flirtation,” she says.

She says when Westwood initiated intercourse, she remembers pondering she couldn’t get out of the state of affairs. “I’m in London alone with this man. Now if I attempt to get out of this, who’s to say how he’s going to react. So I simply undergo it.”

She says she has not spoken concerning the encounterin its entirety, till now. “Individuals like me don’t ever get believed once we discuss stuff like this, so we don’t,” she says, including that she discovered the encounter “traumatic”.

“It was disgusting and I felt like shit afterwards, actually disgusting,” she says.

She says the work expertise he provided by no means occurred, and she or he went house as quickly as she may.

Pamela later spoke to a good friend who works within the music business they usually inspired her to speak about her expertise on this investigation.

Tamara

Tamara* says she first met Westwood when she was a 17-year-old member of a British R&B group and he was in his mid-30s and the “No 1 hip-hop DJ on the time”.

She says when he requested if she wished to “hang around”, she thought it was to speak about her profession. “He may make or break your profession,” she says. “For those who wished to get any type of publicity, you’ll attempt to get your demo to him and pray that he would play it. He had absolute energy.

“Inside the recording business and the black neighborhood, regardless of him being a white man, he had absolute energy.”

However Tamara says that when they had been in a flat she believes was his, with out saying something he pulled down her trousers and underwear. She claims he then started performing oral intercourse on her.

“There was no speaking. There was no type of communication about that. It was simply earlier than I knew it, that’s what was occurring,” she says.

Tamara says she was stunned and at first tried to push his head and shoulders away. “After which I realised that, you realize what? I’m able the place it’s already gone too far,” she says.

“I’m already removed from house. I wouldn’t even know how one can depart this explicit place. I wouldn’t know how one can get house from right here … Then he finishes and it’s as if that hadn’t occurred.”

The lady says they then had informal intercourse two or 3 times over a interval of three years.

Trying again at these encounters, Tamara says she was so younger she lacked “the power and braveness” to say: “‘No … I don’t really feel proper about this’, as a result of I didn’t really feel proper about it.”

Now with a daughter in her 20s, Tamara says she has determined to share her expertise for the primary time after her daughter confirmed her the net allegations about Westwood that surfaced in 2020, including that she was involved his ongoing common membership nights meant he was typically involved with younger ladies.

In 2021, Tamara watched the BBC documentary Music’s Soiled Secrets and techniques and contacted the producers asking them to research the DJ.

Farah

The Guardian and BBC additionally spoke to 4 different ladies who declare they had been groped by Westwood after they posed for an image with him, after he had carried out DJ units.

The Guardian and BBC have seen the Snapchat footage and the pictures the ladies say had been taken through the encounters.

The earliest dates to 2000, when Farah* was 19 and dealing with a promotional avenue crew throughout Bristol carnival.

Afterwards she says she met Westwood, then in his mid-40s, at an afterparty and recollects him asking about her work.

She says when the occasion had completed, the road crew gathered to take {a photograph} with the DJ, however because it was being taken he put his hand inside her T-shirt and grabbed her breast.

“Simply the considered any individual doing that – I felt chilly. And I felt soiled. I felt humiliated, embarrassed. That I’d performed one thing improper,” she says.

Claire

Two ladies allege they had been groped in 2009, when the DJ was in his early 50s.

In the summertime, Claire*, then 20, went to a nightclub in Ayia Napa – the DJ had been taking part in and she or he says she queued to take {a photograph} with him after his set. However as her good friend was taking the image, she claims Westwood mentioned “lemme seize some ass” and put his hand down the again of her denim shorts.

“As I used to be shocked, I froze and felt very intimidated,” she says. “He then began asking if I used to be involved in going again to the place he was staying to ‘chill’, as I used to be stood, nonetheless mentally making an attempt to course of what simply occurred.” She says she turned down the supply.

Loretta

Later within the 12 months, earlier than Christmas, Loretta* says she additionally posed for {a photograph} with the DJ after he had carried out at a nightclub in Essex. The then 19-year-old says she felt the DJ’s hand go down her again and seize her backside, earlier than resting on her neck.

“In that second, I used to be type of frozen and I didn’t actually know how one can react,” she says. “I imply, I understand how I’d react now as a grown lady, however as an adolescent, I actually didn’t.”

Nyla

Nyla* says she met Westwood 9 years later, in 2017, when she was 22 and he was 59 and DJing at a New Yr’s Day occasion in London.

She says he bought his safety to ask her on stage, and when she did he used the microphone to declare her “the pengest lady within the rave”.

On the finish of the night time she says her good friend wished a video of the DJ. Whereas the pair posed, Nyla says Westwood moved his hand down her again and up the again of her skirt.

“I couldn’t actually do something to cease it or forestall it. So it felt like that had been taken out of my arms,” she says.

Nyla says Westwood referred to as her the following day on Snapchat – she thinks after getting her quantity from a visitor record – “asking if I wish to hang around and stuff” and telling her she didn’t have to return alone and will deliver buddies. She says earlier than lengthy she ended the dialog and blocked his quantity.

“Generally I simply really feel like his persona or his type of stage character, individuals take that actually flippantly and see it as one thing that’s type of satirical when truly it’s not likely humorous,” she says.

“I didn’t have an opportunity to voice my very own opinion in that second. I didn’t actually really feel like a human. I simply felt objectified.”

*Names have been modified.

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