Tim Westwood is facing new sexual abuse and misconduct allegations after news surfaced in April that at least seven women had made accusations against the famed BBC DJ.
He is accused of opportunistic and predatory sexual behavior, using his position as one of the best-known names in the U.K. Hip-Hop industry to target vulnerable young women.
The Guardian reports a total of 10 Black women made allegations against the DJ since the initial investigation was made public in April. Aside from two friends, none of the other women have ever met, and all but one asked to remain anonymous.
Four of these women say they were under 18 when the incidents they allege happened. A further six women claim they were young adults at the time.
One of the DJ’s alleged victims claimed she met him at a club in 1990 when she was just 14 years old. “[Tim Westwood] would always see us. He’d let us in for free,” said Esther, a pseudonym. “Sometimes he’d come and check on us: ‘Ah are you guys enjoying yourselves?’ And that’s how it started.” She claims she told him her age, but it did not deter him from pursuing her.
“I never gave consent [to sex], but I never said no either so, I just went along with it,” she said. “I kind of thought it was normal but that’s because I didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. It wasn’t a relationship and it wasn’t about love, it was just a thing, and a thing you couldn’t discuss with anybody.”
She broke things after two years when she was sixteen. Though she later felt Tim Westwood was grooming her, she feared she would face blame for the alleged assaults.
Tim Westwood Denies The Allegations
The DJ strenuously denied the allegations of the seven Black women featured in the original investigation by the BBC and The Guardian in April.
Another woman claims Tim Westwood started a sexual relationship with her in 1997 when she was 16. Two others allege he sexually assaulted them when they were in their mid-teens. A further woman claimed the DJ forced his penis into her mouth as she resisted. The alleged incident occured in 2012 when she was 20 years old.