Tim Westwood pleads not guilty to multiple rape and assault charges in London

Former BBC DJ Tim Westwood faces alleged offences dating from between 1983 and 2016. Photo / Getty Images

British veteran hip-hop DJ Tim Westwood has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of rape and sexual assault when he appeared in a London court accused of offences between 1983 and 2016.

Westwood, 68, pleaded not guilty at Southwark Crown Court to four counts of rape, nine of indecent assault, and two of sexual assault against seven women.

UK police in October charged the former BBC Radio 1 DJ, who is accused of indecently assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 1983, raping a woman aged 17-18 between 1995 and 1996, and raping a woman in her 20s in 2010, among other allegations.

The court was told that three of the alleged assault offences took place in BBC studios in 1996, UK media reported.

Westwood was granted bail, with a provisional trial date set for January 2027.

He presented a rap show on BBC Radio 1 for nearly 20 years from 1994 to 2013.

The British broadcaster has been rocked by multiple sexual scandals involving its top talent in recent years, including former news anchor Huw Edwards and ex-presenter Jimmy Savile.

Comedian Russell Brand, who presented a show on BBC’s Radio 2 between 2006 and 2008 is currently on facing trial in London accused of sexual offences.

Westwood presented MTV UK’s Pimp My Ride from 2005 to 2007 and is often cited as an inspiration for Sacha Baron Cohen’s fictional Ali G character, a middle-class, suburban youth who acts in a way he thinks is typical of black people.

He is the son of a former Anglican bishop from the east of England, and was wounded in a drive-by shooting in London in 1999.

- Agence France-Presse