Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood has been accused of sexual misconduct by several women who claimed he used his position to exploit them. 

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In a joint investigation by BBC and Guardian, the 64-year-old Dj has been accused of predatory sexual behaviour between 1992 and 2017 by seven women.

The news outlets revealed that they received detailed accounts from the victims; all women of colour who claim to have met Westwood through his work and accuse him of using his power in the music industry to assault them. 

Telling their stories in a BBC Three documentary, Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power, scheduled to air on BBC Three at 9pm on Tuesday, three of the victims accuse Westwood of ‘predatory sexual behaviour’ while four others allege that he groped them at events. 

Three of the victims, aged 17, 19 and 20 at the time of the incident, accused Westwood of ‘opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour’ after they agreed to meet with him. According to two of them, they intended to work in the music industry and had agreed to meet Westwood in London to discuss music before he ‘initiated unwanted and unexpected sex’. 

The other four women claim that Westwood groped them while taking pictures with him after his nightclub performances. 

However, the DJ has denied all claims of sexual misconduct. 

His spokesperson told MailOnline, “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.”

A well-known hip-hop figure, Tim Westwood was an early champion of this music genre in the UK. He began his career with local radio before hosting the first nationally-broadcast rap show on UK radio from 1994 on BBC Radio 1.

In 2020, allegations of sexual misconduct by Westwood made rounds when the hashtag #survivingTimWestwood appeared on Twitter. 

These allegations began trending after an unnamed woman under the pseudo @survivingtimwestwood on Twitter described a four-year relationship with the him admitting however that she had not contacted the police with any of her allegations.

This sparked reactions as Twitter users began to call on Global Radio, where Westwood works for Capital Xtra, to investigate his behaviour towards young black women.

At the time, the DJ vehemently denied these allegations on social media. 

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