The BBC has said it received six sexual misconduct complaints about disgraced DJ Tim Westwood, contradicting previous claims from the corporation that it never received any.
In total, the BBC have said they are reviewing six complaints about alleged bullying or sexual misconduct by Westwood, including a historical one that was referred to the police.
BBC Director General Tim Davie had said in April, however, that the corporation had “no evidence of complaints”. They have also declined to say whether the five complaints, excluding the historical one referred to the police, were received before or after Mr Davie’s statement.
In relation to the police referral, a BBC spokesman said: “This is a historic case that the BBC has found in its files. We are establishing the facts around it.
“It did not relate to conduct at the BBC, BBC premises, or conduct towards a BBC staff member, nor was it an accusation of physical assault.”
The spokesman added that the DJ had been “spoken to” following one of the other complaints.
The complaints were revealed after BBC News challenged the corporation’s response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, which was made in November 2021.
The request was part of a joint investigation with the Guardian, which featured accounts of seven black women who alleged unexpected and unwanted sexual misconduct. The earliest alleged incident took place in 1992, the most recent in 2017.
“Someone taking advantage of my naivety and lack of confidence isn’t something that I should have to carry with shame,” one of the women had said in the story.
In a response at the time to the documentary also released in April, which featured the allegations levelled at the disgraced DJ, a spokesperson for Westwood said he denied the allegations in their entirety.
“Our client confirms that there has never been any complaint made against him, whether officially or unofficially, relating to claims of inappropriate behaviour of the nature described,” they said.
“No complaint has ever been made to the police, and nobody has ever raised these matters, or any colourably similar, with him directly or with his representatives.
“There has been no investigation in relation to him of any nature whatsoever, whether by the police, his employer or indeed any other authority.”
In its most recent statement, the BBC has further stated: “As we have said, if people have things that they want to raise with the BBC, then they should do so. People have now done so and we will continue to investigate.
“We also said that we would dig into what happened in the past. We are doing that with great care. All of that work hasn’t concluded and is ongoing. We said we would take this seriously, and we are.”
