Dave Lee Travis 'assaulted me while I was live on air'

Dave Lee Travis pictured arriving at Southwark Crown Court in London Credit: Sean Dempsey/PA Wire/Press Association Images

A radio announcer has described how she panicked as former DJ Dave Lee Travis grabbed her breasts while she was speaking live on air.

The woman, who cannot be named, is the first of Travis' alleged victims to give evidence in his trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Travis, 68, is charged with 13 counts of indecent assault dating back to between 1976 and 2003, and one count of sexual assault in 2008. The allegations relate to 11 women, one of whom was 15 at the time.

He denies all of the charges against him.

The alleged victim told the court how she was introducing Woman's Hour live on BBC Radio 4 in the early 1980s when Travis entered the studio.

"His hands came round under my arm pits and he put one hand on each breast," she said. "He started to move my breasts up and down."

Asked by prosecutor Miranda Moore QC how she felt at the time, she replied: "Well I imagine there was a feeling of sort of panic.

"Radio 4 is a very serious network. I was making a serious announcement. I was just frightened I was going to mess up the announcement."

Travis pretended "as if nothing had happened" afterwards, she claimed, adding: "I believe he thought it was a prank".

Photographers take Dave Lee Travis' photo outside the court Credit: Sean Dempsey/PA Wire

Due to the "climate at the time," she said she did not report the incident to management, believing she would be told "to live with it".

During cross-examination, Stephen Vullo, defending Travis, said his client denied any knowledge of the incident.

The second witness told the court that she was assaulted by Travis on her first day of work at Chiltern Radio.

The woman said it was not the last time she was assaulted by Travis, and that she could always tell when he was nearby because of his "pungent aftershave".

She said she finally "snapped" after Travis allegedly put his hand up her skirt.

She claimed a manager had to pull the pair apart after Travis became aggressive when she shouted out that he was a pervert.

Another witness, who worked at Chiltern Radio at the time of Travis' alleged offending, said that colleagues had warned her that "he could [be] quite lechy and to watch out."

Describing Travis' last day at the office, she said he had "stormed back through our [office] and he was shouting at all of us, calling us liars. A lot of swear words.

"He left that day and he didn't come back. He said: 'How dare you, you're all liars'."

Travis denies all of the charges against him. The trial continues.