DJ Travis ‘fondled teen during Top of the Pops’

Travis, 68, was an “opportunist” who assaulted “vulnerable” young woman, a jury at Southwark Crown Court was told yesterday.

The former Radio One DJ, whose real name is David Patrick Griffin, allegedly assaulted women while working as a disc jockey, acting in pantomimes and even at the opening of a hospital radio station.

In one incident at a local radio station, the jury of eight women and four men was told, a woman went “ballistic” after the DJ allegedly forced his thumb into her underwear.

Travis, from Buckinghamshire, is charged with 13 counts of indecent assault dating back to between 1976 and 2003, and one count of sexual assault in 2008. He denies all the charges.

Dressed in a light brown blazer, black shirt and patterned tie, he listened to the proceedings with the aid of headphones.

Opening the Crown’s case, prosecutor Miranda Moore QC showed the jury a short clip of Top of the Pops from 1978, in which it is alleged Travis is starting to assault a woman.

The teenager had travelled to the show with a friend and alleges Travis put his hand up her skirt to “touch her bum”.

The presenter is seen flanked by two women in the clip, one of whom is said to be the alleged victim.

Her friend “remembers her being angry and upset and saying this defendant had put his hand up her skirt”, the court heard.

“The incident was actually cut from what was broadcast,” Ms Moore said. “She says that is the start of him trying to put the hand up her skirt.”

Travis was arrested under Scotland Yard’s Operation Yewtree, which was prompted by abuse allegations involving the late Jimmy Savile, the court heard.

Earlier in the day, Ms Moore said women had come forward from “all parts of the United Kingdom” with similar allegations against Travis.

In another incident, Travis allegedly assaulted a woman working in the pantomime Aladdin in which he was appearing in Crawley, West Sussex, between November 1990 and January 1991, the court heard.

Travis was playing the “evil wizard” Abanazar in the show, which also featured the Chuckle Brothers, Barry and Paul Elliott, Ms Moore said.

Travis pressed against the woman and held the door shut in a room at the theatre, the prosecutor said.

Travis pulled his hand out of her jogging bottoms when one of the Chuckle Brothers could be heard walking past in the corridor, she added.

“She did not want it, she did not ask for it, she did not consent to it,” Ms Moore added.

The alleged victim reported the incident to a stage manager, but it was decided she would not go to the police because Travis was a “star”, the prosecutor said.

The theatre later decided that female workers should not be left alone with Travis during the show’s run, she added.

Three counts relate to two women who worked at Chiltern FM between 2000 to 2003.

Travis worked as a DJ at Chiltern, Ms Moore said, and was “sexually assaulting” one woman and other colleagues on a “regular basis”.

During one alleged incident, one of the women had just started work there and was being shown round Travis’s studio, the court heard.

Ms Moore said: “He embraced her in a bear hug and then rubbed up and down the left side of her breasts.”

The prosecutor added: “It felt uncomfortable to her and felt wrong.”

In a separate incident with the same woman, Travis allegedly rubbed her on the thigh and slipped his thumb up her knickers, Ms Moore said.

“It appears this is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Ms Moore said.

“She went ballistic.”

The woman shouted out to Travis in front of other members of staff: “Don’t touch me, you’re a pervert,” jurors were told.

The trial, which is due to last up to six weeks, continues.