The BBC has apologised after it “missed opportunities that might have led to action” following claims of “bullying and misogynistic behaviour” in opposition to former Radio One star Tim Westwood.
It comes after the publication of an impartial exterior overview carried out into Westwood’s conduct throughout his time on the broadcaster, which discovered there have been “a range of factors which ought to have alerted the BBC” to the likelihood that he “might present a risk to young women and girls”.
The DJ declined to participate within the overview. In a press release for the report despatched by his solicitors, he strongly denied his behaviour “ever amounted to bullying or harassment”, and mentioned some individuals “behaved poorly towards” him.
Individuals who reported allegations in opposition to Westwood informed the overview’s creator, Gemma White KC, they have been “concerned that they would not be believed or might be blamed” for his alleged behaviour.
The DJ was “very popular so no one wanted to listen”, one individual mentioned.
“A common theme amongst those who reported allegations was that they did not know or understand at the time that the behaviour which they had described to me was wrong,” the report discovered. “Some said they had only realised when they were older, or recently.
“One individual referred to not understanding on the time what sexual assault was.”
One alleged victim Westwood’s conduct as being “so public” and “brazen”, the report stated, and members of the BBC production team were left “upset and in tears” as a result of his alleged bullying and harassment.
The report read: “Folks referred to Tim Westwood refusing to speak to a few of his BBC manufacturing workforce members, ‘freezing them out’ and giving them the ‘silent remedy’.
“Many told me that they, and others, found it very difficult to work with him.
The Metropolitan Police previously said detectives were investigating accusations of offences alleged to have happened between 1982 and 2016.
Westwood began his career on local radio before joining Capital Radio in London.
He then moved to the BBC and left Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra after nearly 20 years in 2013. He hosted a regular Saturday show on Capital Xtra, where he was referred to as “The Large Dawg”, before he left the company in 2022.
In their statement for the review, Westwood’s lawyers said he had complained about “detrimental behaviour” towards him when he worked for 1Xtra and was “primarily suggested to rise above it”.
He also said after a move to a new slot in 2009, “the atmosphere felt aggressive and hostile” and was “poisonous from the outset”.
On some occasions, Westwood “took situation with a few of his colleagues’ poor perspective to work and low productiveness, and expressed his opinion that they have been lazy and out of contact with the viewers”, his lawyers’ statement said. “He accepts that this contributed to a divisive ambiance inside a few of the groups with which he labored.”
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