DJ Timothy Westwood is in a spot of bother

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood charged with four counts of rape https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckge5zrl69xo

I’m a fan of the BBC but it does have a habit of being a breeding ground for wrong ‘uns. Also, he’s 68 years old!

[Shnozz]

Pimp my Ride suddenly has a whole new meaning.

[Quhet]

Always the weird ones isn't it!?

[OutInTheShed]

I have doubts whether anyone can get a fair trial, defending themselves about allegations of a crime with limited evidence, 30 years after the alleged event.

Easy to make allegations, hard to prove a negative.

Who keeps all the personal data that might prove you were somewhere else, for 30 years?

[Terminator X]

He was charged ages ago too. Same thing or different offences?

TX.

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

BunkMoreland said:

You do realise these are historical cases!

Yes, my surprise was simply at his age not that I thought he’d carried out the alleged assaults recently

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

Terminator X said:

He was charged ages ago too. Same thing or different offences?

TX.

According to the article the attacks in the latest case go back a lot further, so some of them may be the same ones but a number weren’t amongst the previous charges.

[ChocolateFrog]

OutInTheShed said:

I have doubts whether anyone can get a fair trial, defending themselves about allegations of a crime with limited evidence, 30 years after the alleged event.

Easy to make allegations, hard to prove a negative.

Who keeps all the personal data that might prove you were somewhere else, for 30 years?

I'd tend to agree.

I feel like there should be overwhelming evidence before they bring these cases.

[119]

No doubt plenty of others got prosecuted on flimsy evidence.

[Digga]

ChocolateFrog said:

OutInTheShed said:

I have doubts whether anyone can get a fair trial, defending themselves about allegations of a crime with limited evidence, 30 years after the alleged event.

Easy to make allegations, hard to prove a negative.

Who keeps all the personal data that might prove you were somewhere else, for 30 years?

I'd tend to agree.

I feel like there should be overwhelming evidence before they bring these cases.

On the one hand, he’s a proper oddjob, and of the BBC.

On the other hand, yes, it feels like a pile on cases like this. If true though, he deserves prosecution.

O/T was he not, in at least some part, an inspiration for Ali G?

[Gecko1978]

Digga said:

ChocolateFrog said:

OutInTheShed said:

I have doubts whether anyone can get a fair trial, defending themselves about allegations of a crime with limited evidence, 30 years after the alleged event.

Easy to make allegations, hard to prove a negative.

Who keeps all the personal data that might prove you were somewhere else, for 30 years?

I'd tend to agree.

I feel like there should be overwhelming evidence before they bring these cases.

On the one hand, he s a proper oddjob, and of the BBC.

On the other hand, yes, it feels like a pile on cases like this. If true though, he deserves prosecution.

O/T was he not, in at least some part, an inspiration for Ali G?

The son of a Bishop who sounded like stormzy before stormzy was born. He was very influential in the R&B and hip hop scene in the UK and arguably as a white male probably more acceptable to the BBC back then.

But like many in the media fame allowed him a cess and influence over young women. So maybe he did those things maybe he did not I doubt we will ever know but I also suspect he will never be convicted as others have said.

[OutInTheShed]

Digga said:

On the one hand, he s a proper oddjob, and of the BBC.

On the other hand, yes, it feels like a pile on cases like this. If true though, he deserves prosecution.

O/T was he not, in at least some part, an inspiration for Ali G?

You don't get to be a media star by emphasising how normal you are.

I haven't a clue who Mr Westwood is or was. I gave up on Radio 1 in about 1983.

[808 Estate]

Met him a couple of times professionally. He was a right wker and so far up his own arse it wasnt true. Doesnt surprise me at all.

[Gecko1978]

808 Estate said:

Met him a couple of times professionally. He was a right wker and so far up his own arse it wasnt true. Doesnt surprise me at all.

Off camera did he still speak like that?

[S100HP]

The most shocking thing about all this is that he's 68. Can't quite believe it.

[fflump]

808 Estate said:

Met him a couple of times professionally. He was a right wker and so far up his own arse it wasnt true. Doesnt surprise me at all.

Not sure what being a wker and up himself has got to do with being a sex offender.

[fflump]

OutInTheShed said:

I have doubts whether anyone can get a fair trial, defending themselves about allegations of a crime with limited evidence, 30 years after the alleged event.

Easy to make allegations, hard to prove a negative.

Who keeps all the personal data that might prove you were somewhere else, for 30 years?

Since when is the criminal justice system about proving a negative?

[fflump]

ChocolateFrog said:

OutInTheShed said:

I have doubts whether anyone can get a fair trial, defending themselves about allegations of a crime with limited evidence, 30 years after the alleged event.

Easy to make allegations, hard to prove a negative.

Who keeps all the personal data that might prove you were somewhere else, for 30 years?

I'd tend to agree.

I feel like there should be overwhelming evidence before they bring these cases.

The CPS obviously feel there is a case to answer and evidence to support the prosecution. Whether it is overwhelming is for the jury to decide.

[soad]

Digga said:

O/T was he not, in at least some part, an inspiration for Ali G?

An influence on the development of his character.

[Gareth79]

BunkMoreland said:

Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:

Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood charged with four counts of rape https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckge5zrl69xo

I m a fan of the BBC but it does have a habit of being a breeding ground for wrong uns. Also, he s 68 years old!

You do realise these are historical cases!

Its when he was at R1 in the 90s, at the height of his fame and influence and had tons of impressionable young people hanging around.


I sadly doubt anything will get to conviction as any evidence is long gone. But hope I'm proved wrong. Not an easy case unless there's something like CCTV or texts as evidence

IIRC in other historical cases the alleged victim spoke to others about what happened at the time, who can then appear as witnesses. In one case somebody wrote a diary entry describing what happened. Also usually the alleged victims describe a similar "mode of operation". ie. if the encounters are not denied but claimed to be consensual, the manner of the the alleged non-consensual parts may match up.