13 Feb 2014

Dave Lee Travis found not guilty on 12 charges

Veteran DJ Dave Lee Travis is found not guilty on 12 charges of indecent assault, but the jury fails to reach a verdict on two further charges.

Sixty-eight-year-old Travis looked straight ahead, showing no reaction, as the verdicts were read out at Southwark crown court.

He listened through headphones, as he had done through the four weeks of the trial. His wife Marianne watched from the public gallery.

I’ve had one trial by media and one trial by crown court, and I have to say in all honesty, I prefer the trial by crown court Dave Lee Travis

The jury of eight women and four men, who had been deliberating for around 20 hours, were discharged having failed to reach a verdict on an alleged incident of an assault on a woman working on a pantomime in the early 1990s and also on an alleged sexual assault on a journalist who interviewed Mr Travis at his home in 2008.

There will be a further hearing at the same court on 24 February to decide if there should be a retrial of the two outstanding charges and Mr Travis was told he would be bailed on the same conditions as before.

Asked by reporters outside court if he was delighted by the outcome, Mr Travis said “No, I’m not delighted at all.”

He added: “I’ve had two trials: I’ve had one trial by media and one trial by crown court, and I have to say in all honesty, I prefer the trial by crown court.”

Mr Travis said he had lost his house, which he sold to fund his defence, and his reputation which, he added: “I may try to get back.”

‘Nonsensical’ claims

The former Top Of The Pops presenter was accused of indecently assaulting 10 women and sexually assaulting another in alleged incidents dating back to 1976 when he was at the height of his fame.

Giving his own evidence, Travis, who was on trial under his birth name David Griffin, told jurors that he was not a “sexual predator” and the claims against him were “nonsensical”. “I do not have a predatory nature with women, I have a cuddly nature. Maybe that’s what this is all about, but I am not predatory,” he said.

He was supported by a host of defence witnesses during the case, including Chuckle Brothers Barry and Paul Elliott, Patricia “Dee Dee” Wilde of Top Of The Pops dance troupe Pan’s People, and former colleagues at the BBC and elsewhere.