DJ Dave Lee Travis indecently assaulted a 19-year-old woman during a recording of Top Of The Pops, a court has heard. The 68-year-old carried out a series of assaults which were "sexual in nature" while working as a disc jockey, acting in pantomimes and even at the opening of a hospital radio station, London's Southwark Crown Court was told.
The former Radio One DJ, whose real name is David Patrick Griffin, is on trial accused of assaulting 11 women, one of whom was 15 at the time of the alleged offence. 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 19-year-old had travelled to the show with a friend and alleges Travis put his hand up her skirt to "touch her bum". Ms Moore said the teenager "pulled away from him very quickly" and added that her friend was "aware of something happening".
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.
Ms Moore said: "She was embarrassed and thought no-one would believe her.
"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, 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. He 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. Alleged assaults were carried out by Travis "in a work environment", including an appearance at the opening of a hospital radio station, she said.
"The offences vary in gravity," she said. "All are sexual in nature involving unwanted contact by this defendant on much younger women, both over clothing and under clothing."
Travis had been "opportunist" in targeting "young women who were very vulnerable", Ms Moore added. Among the charges are allegations of an indecent assault, said to have taken place between 1976 and 1977 against an 18-year-old woman.
Travis offered her a lift to Charing Cross station one night after work in his yellow Pontiac, which she accepted, Ms Moore told the jury. He gave her a lift two or three times. About a week after the last lift, Travis invited the alleged victim into a "continuity suite" to choose a song, the jury was told.
Travis asked if she wanted to dance and pressed his groin against her, Ms Moore said. The alleged victim said she felt his erect penis pushed against her, the court heard. "She felt uncomfortable," Ms Moore said. "She told him to stop and he grabbed her and put the red light on."
Ms Moore explained that the red light signalled a live broadcast. "He appeared to her to be getting angry," Ms Moore said. "He put his hand up her skirt, going into her knickers." Travis has said he did not "remember at all" the woman's name, he said he never gave lifts to someone at "her level", and the alleged incident did not happen, Ms Moore said.
Another incident allegedly happened on June 17 1978 at a Showaddywaddy concert on a farm in Gloucestershire. Ms Moore said the count relates to the youngest victim, who was 15 at the time of the alleged offence. The girl had walked eight miles to the concert, the court heard.
At the event, she saw the defendant standing in the door of his trailer and he invited her in for a drink, the jury was told. After talking about music, Travis commented on her breasts. "He said 'I love big boobs' and flicked her nipples," Ms Moore told the jury.
Travis lifted her top over her head and pulled down her bra to expose her breasts, she added. The girl was "pinned" to her seat, Ms Moore said. "In her words, she thought he was going to rape her." 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.
He 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, while his hand felt "along her jogging bottoms and over her pubic hair", 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. "She was a junior member of a team and there was thought that she may lose her job," Ms Moore went on.
The theatre later decided that female workers should not be left alone with Travis during the show's run, she added. Travis denied assaulting the woman, describing the allegation as "utter nonsense" and telling police he would not have "jeopardised" his first pantomime role, the court heard.
Travis allegedly assaulted a student at Nottingham Polytechnic in an incident between January 1 1983 and March 2 1984, the court heard. He asked the young woman to guard his American-style camper van at the university, where he was appearing as a DJ, the jury was told.
Another two females were inside the van and appeared "intoxicated", Ms Moore said. Travis came out of the van where the student was standing and grabbed her left breast, before saying "securi-titty", the prosecutor said.
He later kissed the student and tried to put his tongue in her mouth before the young woman ran off, she added. "She was scared," Ms Moore said. "She felt stupid and humiliated." In a police interview, Travis denied an assault took place, the court heard.
During an appearance on Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 in the early 1980s, Travis grabbed one alleged victim's breast which he "moved up and down", Ms Moore said. He later told police the incident had not taken place and it was a "story" to "sell newspapers", the prosecutor added.