BBC to publish report into Tim Westwood sex pest claims 'within weeks'

Director-general Tim Davie promises BBC will publish report into Tim Westwood sex claims in next two weeks

• Tim Davie said earlier this year that he had ‘seen no evidence of complaints’
• Now six misconduct allegations against DJ are being probed as part of a review
• Former Radio 1 star Tim Westwood, 64, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing 

BBC director-general Tim Davie has promised a report into sex misconduct claims levelled against veteran hip-hop DJ Tim Westwood will be released by the end of July.

An internal audit into six allegations made against the disc jockey between 1994 to 2013 are being probed as part of a review into Westwood’s 19-year career at the broadcaster.

Former Radio 1 DJ Westwood, 64, denies any wrongdoing, with director-general Tim Davie earlier this year stating he had ‘seen no evidence of complaints.’ 

The claims relate to the DJ’s alleged bulling and sexual behaviour referring to his conduct outside of the BBC and with one being reported to police.

Speaking as the corporation unveiled its annual report for 2021/22, Mr Davie said: ‘With regards to Tim Westwood, we are at the moment going through a full deep dive.

‘What we have done essentially is we did an initial round of analysis of HR files, which didn’t show something, that was why I made that statement which was my understanding at that time.

‘We take this very seriously. I want to ensure that everyone who has got anything to bring which relates to the BBC or the time spent at the BBC we look at, fully investigate.

‘We have (an) internal audit separate to myself working to the senior independent director Nick Serota going through now, responding to anything coming into us.’

Veteran DJ Tim Westwood is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by women who claim he abused his position to take advantage of them. The DJ has strenuously denied all allegations

A woman using the alias Pamela claims Westwood drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53

A woman, using the alias Tamara, alleges Westwood, then aged in his mid-thirties, also subjected her to unwanted sex when she was 17

One woman, using the pseudonym Isabel, alleges she was 19 and the DJ was 53 when he exposed his genitals to her in a car

BBC director-general Tim Davie has promised a report into sex misconduct claims levelled against veteran hip-hop DJ Tim Westwood will be released by the end of July

Mr Davie said he did not want to give a ‘running commentary’ on the investigation.

He added: ‘It is not because I am lacking in transparency. It is just we want to do that work and then we will come back and I think what we will do is publish something and summarise exactly to the questions.

‘Here are the things we have got in, this is all we have got as the BBC,’ and be fully transparent around that. And we should get that out within the next two weeks.’

He said the BBC had ‘no objective apart from to ensure that everything is flushed out’ and for the broadcaster to gain an understanding of what had happened during Westwood’s time there.

A statement from a representative of Westwood in April said: ‘Tim Westwood strongly denies all allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

‘In a career that has spanned 40 years, there have never been any complaints made against him officially or unofficially.

‘Tim Westwood strongly rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.’

The DJ, who is the son of Bill Westwood, the former Anglican bishop of Peterborough who died in 1999, began his career on local radio before joining Capital Radio in London.

He was later given his own show by BBC Radio 1.

The radio presenter left Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra in 2013 after nearly 20 years and returned to Capital Xtra to host a regular show on Saturday nights, where he was referred to as ‘The Big Dawg’.

A representative for Westwood was contacted for comment.

The news comes after the Guardian and BBC published testimonies in April from seven women who made allegations of predatory sexual behaviour against Westwood.

In 2020, Westwood was forced to deny involvement in similar allegations when the hashtag #survivingTimWestwood appeared on Twitter.

Westwood’s name and the allegations began trending on Twitter after an unnamed woman posted messages describing a four year relationship.

Using the Twitter name @survivingtimwestwood she admitted she was in love with the DJ and had not gone to police with any of her allegations.

Westwood, pictured above in 2005, is at the centre of a sexual misconduct storm after allegations were levelled against him in recent years

Others responding to the Twitter messages called on bosses at Global Radio, where Westwood works for Capital Xtra, to investigate his behaviour towards young black women.

The renowned DJ vehemently denied sensational allegations on social media that he behaved inappropriately with student fans. 

In October 2013, Westwood was condemned by students for a ‘vulgar and sexist’ stage show he put on during a freshers’ event at the University of Leicester. 

While performing as guest DJ at the O2 Academy he was heard shouting over the microphone: ‘Girl in the front row with the black dress on, I will be f****** you later.’

Earlier this year, Westwood was heard in unearthed clips urging a fan to stay in her bra as he ogled her on stage in the BBC3 film Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power. 

The DJ was accused of groping black women at gigs in the scathing documentary.

Westwood was also filmed cat-calling a woman as she scrambled to cover up as he shouted from the decks: ‘Yo baby you don’t have to put your top back on’.

He was also caught clutching a woman while looking down her top and asking: ‘I like your rack – is it real?’.

The documentary also showed him refusing to let go of a woman’s arm after he allegedly whispered something sexual in her ear while backstage at a festival.

And another clip shows Westwood interviewing rapper Cardi B during a 2017 interview for Capital FM.

The American artist asks him: ‘Do you have sex with a lot of like, you know, black girls?’ Westwood replied after a pause: ‘Not as much as I’d like to’ in an interview where he was accused of being inappropriate towards the star.

Straight Outta Lowestoft… the bishop’s son who made £10m playing ‘gangsta rap’ glorifying guns and violence

By Helen Weathers for The Daily Mail 

The son of an Anglican bishop, British DJ Tim ‘Big Dawg’ Westwood couldn’t have been a more unlikely pioneering champion of hip-hop music.

Middle-class and privately educated, he was – critics noted dryly – Straight Outta Lowestoft in Suffolk, where the only ‘hood’ he would have been familiar with growing up was the one on his anorak.

But just as his late father, the former Bishop of Peterborough, was a regular on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day slot, so too did his son become a BBC radio fixture for almost 20 years as the ‘voice of hip-hop’.

That, though, was where the similarities ended.

British DJ Tim ‘Big Dawg’ (pictured back, centre), reported to be worth around £10million, he can command £10,000 for a gig and has sold more than two million copies of his compilation albums with a YouTube channel boasting more than 1.3million subscribers, is being accused of secual misconduct. His father was an Anglican bishop

While the Rt Rev Bill Westwood, who died in 1999 aged 73, sought to inspire listeners with spiritual sermons, Westwood junior would bring them instead the violent lyrics of gangsta culture.

Today, the gulf between father and son seems even wider with accusations of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

Three have accused the DJ of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour, while four others allege they were groped by him at events.

Westwood has strenuously denied all the allegations, with a spokesman saying they were completely false and denied in their entirety.

Over the years Westwood’s passion for hip-hop would see him transform from a gangly, nerdy, moustachioed pirate radio jock into an edgy, award-winning – if somewhat controversial – figure, dressed in urban streetwear as he promoted a new wave of stars.

Adopting the patois of his idols, his radio shows were peppered with phrases such as ‘the bomb’s about to go off, baby’ and ‘kick it to the curb, man’.

Though he has always insisted this persona was entirely genuine, Westwood’s enthusiastic use of pseudo-Jamaican slang inspired Sacha Baron Cohen’s spoof character, tracksuit-wearing Ali G.

‘Once I found out he was actually the son of a bishop, it became even more absurd. He was so keen to be presented as a gangsta,’ Baron Cohen said of his muse.

The Right Reverend William John Westwood, Bishop of Edmonton, and regular Radio Four Broadcaster who died in 1999 aged 73, is pictured outside Church House. Today, the gulf between father and son seems even wider with accusations of sexual misconduct

As for Westwood, now aged 64, he has always declared himself mystified by accusations that he was trying to be something he wasn’t.

‘I came from a good home,’ he once said in an interview. ‘I never reacted against it. I loved my dad. He taught me dignity and respect. I’m a white guy, I’m not aspiring to be anything other than who I am.

As for his fans in the clubs, and the black rap stars he promoted, he insisted they didn’t care about his background.

‘Honestly, baby, I get love out there, pure and simple,’ was his response.

Certainly, despite the mockery, he was the one laughing all the way to the bank. Reported to be worth around £10million, he can command £10,000 for a gig and has sold more than two million copies of his compilation albums. His YouTube channel has more than 1.3million subscribers.

His passion for the emerging US hip-hop scene of the early 80s began when Westwood worked as a bottle collector and roadie in clubs in London’s West End, graduating to become an apprentice DJ. He specialised in jazz funk until he heard one of the first rap records, and was hooked.

In 1982, he started DJing for a pirate radio station based in Peckham. From there, he moved to Kiss FM and then Capital before the BBC came calling in 1994, cementing his status as the country’s most influential hip-hop player.

He reportedly revelled in creating an anarchic atmosphere, hiring a personal chef and dotting the studio with champagne bottles.

‘Newsreaders would have to come in and, like, read the news with people spluttering on blunts [cannabis cigars] all around them,’ said Westwood.

The clean-living son of a clergyman, he did not drink or take drugs himself. By the time Westwood was axed from the Radio 1 Rap Show in 2013, aged 55, more serious questions were being asked about his devotion to a music culture which increasingly glorified guns, gang violence and misogyny.

He still bears the scar from a bullet wound to his arm after he was the victim of a 1999 drive-by shooting. He would later say the attempted assassination was carried out by south London gang members who were trying to extort money from him.

The front door of his one-bedroom Fulham flat, where Westwood – unmarried and childless – has lived for more than 30 years, is said to be reinforced by a metal bar as a security measure, a legacy of that gangland attempt on his life.

Veteran hip hop DJ and radio presenter Tim Westwood started DJing for a pirate radio station based in Peckham. From there, he moved to Kiss FM and then Capital before the BBC came calling in 1994, cementing his status as the country’s most influential hip-hop player. He said he rejects all allegations of wrongdoing after he was accused of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour by several women

Westwood has said of the attack: ‘Before the shooting, the only people who knew me were the hip-hop crowd. But the truth is that was real gangster s***. It made me big.’

In 2018 Westwood was heavily criticised for making money from YouTube adverts after a leaked Metropolitan Police file cited 32 of his videos as potentially inciting violence. The DJ then deleted clips and posts on social media linked to ‘drill’ – the notorious genre blamed for glamorising violence.

A spokesman for Westwood said at the time: ‘We aim and hope to provide opportunities and a positive path… we do not support or condone gangs. Any violence is obviously a concern.’

However a year later Westwood made headlines again when – surrounded by members of a street gang – he posted a new drill rap session featuring lyrics boasting about gangland murders.

Then, he posed with a toy gun champagne holder hours after a gang member stabbed Siddique Kamara – who’d previously appeared with the DJ in a clip on his channel – to death in London in what was described as a feud between drill rivals.

As for Westwood’s private life, he insisted in 2017 that there was nothing to excite any interest beyond his love of hip-hop. Love, marriage or children would be, he maintained, a distraction from his real passion: music.

That didn’t mean, apparently, a monk-like existence, however. 

Fans, may recall a 2018 Instagram post in which, holding up a credit card, Westwood gave a glimpse of his past relationships. ‘My sugar daddy days are over,’ he declared. I’m tired of buying… nails, shoes, bags, rent. I need an independent woman.’

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