The former BBC DJ Tim Westwood has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault in a central London court.
The 68-year-old appeared at Southwark crown court to face 15 charges related to seven women, including four counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and nine counts of indecent assault over a 33-year period.
It was alleged that three indecent assault offences occurred at the BBC Studios in 1996. Westwood hosted shows on Radio 1 between 1994 and 2013.
Wearing a burgundy shirt and black jeans, Westwood stood in the glass dock with his hands clasped in front of him when he was arraigned on all 15 counts and spoke only to confirm his name and enter 15 not guilty pleas. He was granted bail until his trial, which is due to begin in January 2027.
The former DJ is accused of four indecent assaults in the 1980s in London and three indecent assaults at the BBC in the 1990s. He is also alleged to have raped a woman at a hotel in 1996.
Westwood is also accused of two indecent assaults and one count of rape from the early 2000s at a London address; two counts of rape at a London address in the 2010s; the sexual assault of a woman at a nightclub in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 2010; and the sexual assault of a woman in the Finchley area of London in 2016. The alleged offences are said to have taken place between 1983 and 2016.
The court heard that Westwood, of Westminster in central London, is alleged to have raped women, kissed them and touched their bodies without consent.
At an earlier hearing last month at Westminster magistrates court, he was granted conditional bail and told not to contact witnesses in the case ahead of a pre-trial review hearing that will take place on a date to be decided in December next year. Judge Baumgartner set a provisional trial date for 25 January 2027 before Westwood left the dock.
Westwood has previously said he “strongly denies all allegations of inappropriate behaviour”.
Westwood began his career on local radio before joining Capital Radio in London. He became one of the UK’s best-known names in hip-hop after hosting BBC Radio 1’s first rap show in 1994. He left the BBC after 20 years in 2013, later hosting a regular show on Capital Xtra, which he left in April 2022.
