Dave Lee Travis: suspended sentence for indecent assault

Former Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis has been handed a three-month suspended sentence after he was convicted of indecently assaulting a woman in 1995.

The 69-year-old, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was found guilty on Tuesday of groping a young television researcher backstage on the Mrs Merton Show.

The victim, who is now a TV personality, told the court during the trial: "I absolutely knew he had some weird sexual thrill from this. I felt like I'd been punched, that feeling of being violated."

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In her victim impact statement read out today, she said that "being called a liar and fantasist and being forced to recall the evidence in court has been painful". She said she was particularly hurt by the defendant's claim that financial greed had motivated her to come forward. "I have preserved my anonymity and will not claim compensation now or in the future. I simply wanted to tell the truth," she said.

Earlier this year, Travis was cleared of 12 other indecent assault charges, but faced a retrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict on some counts, reports The Guardian.

This week the jury at Southwark Crown Court found him not guilty of a 1990 indecent assault allegation, but could not reach a verdict over a 2008 sexual assault charge.

Travis, who was tried under his real name David Griffin, will remain out of prison so long as he complies with the requirements of the court during the suspension period of two years and is not convicted of another offence.

Defence barrister Stephen Vullo said his client had spent around £350,000 on the two trials and that he and his wife, who has remained at his side throughout, were forced to sell their family home.

Vullo denied Travis had called the victim a "liar and fantasist" but claimed she had "escalated and exaggerated" her accusation following the publicity against the DJ.

Sentencing Travis, Judge Anthony Leonard said: "It was an intentional and unpleasant sexual assault. You took advantage of a young woman in a vulnerable position whose job it was to look after you that day."

Dave Lee Travis found guilty of indecent assault

23 September

Former Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a woman in 1995. The veteran entertainer was convicted by a majority verdict of 10-2, the BBC reports.

He was found not guilty of another charge and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on a third count of sexual assault.

The woman, a 22-year old TV researcher at the time, told the court that Travis had groped her breasts. "I absolutely knew he had some weird sexual thrill from this. I felt like I'd been punched, that feeling of being violated," she told the court.

Prosecutors called Travis an "opportunist" whose "charming and cuddly" persona was no defence for his crimes. "[He] has a propensity towards laying his hands in a sexual manner on young women who are alone with him or in vulnerable positions," prosecutor Miranda Moore QC told the court.

The 69-year old was arrested as part of Operation Yewtree in 2012 and pleaded not-guilty to all charges claiming that the victim's had "made up lies".

Earlier this year he was cleared of 12 other charges of indecent assault, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on some counts and so Travis faced a re-trial.

Travis has declined to comment on the verdict, telling the Daily Telegraph as he left the courtroom: "I'm not speaking to anybody right this moment."