UK police on Thursday charged veteran British hip-hop DJ Tim Westwood with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault against young women allegedly between 1983 and 2016.
The charges, which include four accusations of rape, nine counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault, come after several women in 2022 accused the former BBC Radio 1 DJ of predatory sexual behaviour or groping.
Westwood, 68, is accused of charges relating to seven different women, including indecently assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 1983, raping a woman aged 17-18 between 1995 and 1996, and raping a woman in her 20s in 2010.
Most of the alleged assaults took place in London.
“Our investigation remains open and we’d encourage anyone who has been impacted by this case, or anyone with information, to come forward and speak with us,” Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy from London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Westwood, who previously denied allegations that were made in 2022, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on November 11.
Earlier this year, the BBC admitted it “fell short and failed people” after finding evidence of Westwood’s “bullying and misogynistic behaviour” when he was at the British broadcaster between 1994 and 2013.
In the report it commissioned following allegations reported by BBC news services and The Guardian in 2022, the BBC’s management said there was no “widespread knowledge” in the organisation about predatory behaviour concerns.
The broadcaster has been shaken by multiple sexual scandals involving its top talent in recent years, including former news anchor Huw Edwards and ex-presenter Jimmy Savile.
Comedian Russell Brand, who presented a show on BBC’s Radio 2 between 2006 and 2008 is currently on trial in London accused of sexual offences.
Westwood presented MTV UK’s “Pimp My Ride” from 2005 to 2007 and is often cited as an inspiration for Sacha Baron Cohen’s fictional Ali G character, a middle-class, suburban youth who acts in a way he thinks is typical of black people.
He is the son of a former Anglican bishop from the east of England, and was wounded in a drive-by shooting in London in 1999.
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