Ex-DJ an ‘opportunist’ sex offender, court told

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris leaves Southwark Crown Court surrounded by family members, in London, yesterday. According to media reports, Harris pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault, alleged to have taken place between 1968 and 1986. Inset: Dave Lee Travis

Agencies/London

Dave Lee Travis is an “opportunist” who used his fame to target and sexually assault vulnerable young women, a jury heard yesterday.

The former BBC DJ, who is being tried under his real name, David Patrick Griffin, is accused of indecently assaulting 11 young women over three decades at the height of his fame.

Opening the prosecution case against Travis at Southwark crown court in London yesterday, Miranda Moore QC told jurors that all the allegations against the former broadcaster “are of a sexual nature and involve unwanted contact”.

Travis has a record of targeting “young women who are vulnerable and he’s an opportunist who takes the opportunity when it presents itself to him”, Moore told the jury. Travis is charged with 13 counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault, relating to 10 women and a 15-year-old girl, between January 1976 and November 2008.

The 68-year-old broadcaster, who denies the charges, sat in the dock of the court wearing a beige jacket, blue shirt and colourful tie as he listened to proceedings through a hearing loop.

Moore told jurors that the case arose out of the scandal around the late Jimmy Savile - another BBC broadcaster - in October 2012, when a number of police forces received reports from women who alleged they were indecently assaulted by Travis.

There are now several investigations into Savile’s case with victims mulling compensation and calling for a single judge-led inquiry into how the DJ was able to evade justice for so long.

The BBC has ordered an independent review into revelations that Savile abused hundreds of children in hospitals and on BBC premises. The report is due within weeks.

To date, police have arrested 16 former celebrities and show business figures, laying charges against four, releasing six on bail and taking no further action against six. Critics have asked why the BBC and police did not act at the time when victims complained. Some celebrities have voiced concern the investigation has become a “witch-hunt” with innocent people linked to paedophile Savile but never charged.

Travis arrived at court to a media scrum yesterday morning, making no comment as he walked past scores of photographers and camera crews penned back behind metal barriers.

A jury of eight women and four men were sworn in before being given strict orders by the judge, Anthony Leonard, not to research the case online or be “intimidated” by the large media presence outside the court building.

British-based Australian entertainer Rolf Harris also appeared in court yesterday where he pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault, one allegedly involving a girl aged seven or eight. He is due to stand trial in April.