TW: Sexual misconduct, harassment, abuse
In a joint investigation from the BBC and Guardian, seven detailed accounts of unwanted sexual behaviour from the DJ Tim Westwood has emerged. The accounts detail incidents dating back from 1992 to 2017. Westwood has denied the allegations.
Those who’ve shared their experiences with the BBC are all Black women whose real names remain undisclosed. One woman, named Isabel in the report, details her experience of being driven to what she believes was the DJ’s flat outside of central London. Aged 19, she initially believed their meeting would be a discussion on a mixtape of unreleased work she had given to Westwood a few days before. At the flat, Westwood initiated sexual intercourse.
Pamela shares a similar account. At age 20, she was called in for work experience with the DJ, who touched her inappropriately as he drove her to an apartment. “I’m in London alone with this man,” she says in the report. “Now, if I try and get out of this, who’s to say how he’s going to react. So I just submit to it.”
Tamara shares to the BBC her account of meeting up with the DJ at age 17. Believing they would also be discussing music, she met with the DJ who took her to a flat. There, he initiated unwanted oral sex on her. More sexual encounters took place over a few years. “I think it was almost implied by him that OK, because we’d had the first encounter, I would be up for the next encounter and being young and not having the strength and courage to just say ‘Look, no, I don’t feel right about this because I don’t feel right about it.’ It just happened,” she said.
Four women also share their accounts of being touched and “grabbed” by the DJ while posing for photos with him. One incident happened at a Carnival afterparty in Bristol, another in a club in Ayia Napa in 2009 and one at an event in Essex that same year.
These women have shared their stories on a new BBC Three documentary, entitled Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power. It airs tonight (26 April) at 9pm (GMT). Head to BBC News for the full report.
The UK helpline for those impacted by sexual violence or abuse of any kind is 0808 802 9999. In the US, the national sexual assault hotline is 1 (800) 656 4673. A 24-hour support service can be accessed via RAINN.