This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
'Petrified' girl feared Dave Lee Travis would rape her, court told
'Petrified' girl feared Dave Lee Travis would rape her, court told
(about 2 hours later)
A "petrified" 15-year-old girl thought she was going to be raped when Dave Lee Travis put his hand up her skirt and tried to take off her clothes at a Showaddywaddy concert, a court has heard.
A "petrified" 15-year-old girl feared she was going to be raped when former BBC Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis lunged at her backstage at a Showaddywaddy concert, a court has heard.
The teenager said she felt "awkward and scared" and was crying and screaming when the former Top of the Pops host pounced on her in his VIP trailer at the concert in June 1978, a jury heard.
The starstruck teenager was attacked by Travis after he invited her into his VIP trailer at the pop concert in Gloucestershire in June 1978, the jury was told.
In a police interview shown to jurors on Thursday, the woman said: "I was petrified. I thought he was going to rape me. I was crying, I was shouting at him to stop then he all of a sudden did stop."
In a video interview with detectives, which was played on screens in court, the woman said she felt "awkward and scared" and was crying and screaming as Travis pinned her down before shoving his hand up her skirt and pulling off her top.
Travis pounced on the teenage pop fan after inviting her into his backstage trailer at the Showaddywaddy gig on a farm in Gloucestershire, jurors heard.
"I was petrified. I thought he was going to rape me. I was crying, I was shouting at him to stop then he all of a sudden did stop," the woman told police officers, halting only to apologise for sounding nervous.
The DJ beckoned the "starstruck" girl into his trailer and asked her if she wanted him to sign a banner she had brought to the concert, before complimenting the girl and telling her he had "never seen boobs as big".
The girl fled from the trailer, the court heard, before hitch-hiking home and deciding not to tell anyone about what had happened because her parents had told her not to get tickets for the concert.
Then Travis "lunged forward and started snogging the face off me" and put his hand up her skirt, the court heard. "He was just all over my boobs … I told him to stop and he wouldn't stop then he tried to get his hand up my skirt. I was crying and screaming to get off me."
Describing why she did not tell anyone about her ordeal until November 2012, the woman said she thought the attack was "what I got for lying" to her parents about going to the gig.
Eventually Travis stopped and told her to get dressed and leave, the court heard. "I couldn't believe that he just stopped in a second. I thought I was so lucky."
She described Travis as a "disgusting old man" and a "pervert" as she gave evidence from behind a white curtain in the witness box of Southwark crown court in London.
Earlier, a 19-year-old student said she was left "absolutely rigid with fear" when the entertainer pinned her against the wall of his campervan and tried to stick his tongue in her mouth, the jury heard.
Listening to proceedings from the dock, Travis later burst out laughing as the Showaddywaddy frontman, David Bartram, told the jury he recalled the concert because the former DJ "came on stage with the band and proceeded to make a nuisance of himself". Travis, who listened to the evidence through earphones, winked and smiled at Bartram as the witness left the courtroom.
He invited the teenager into his "very very posh" campervan after he had played a DJ set at Nottingham's Trent Polytechnic in 1983, the court heard.
Travis denies assaulting 11 women, including the 15-year-old girl, in a series of incidents between January 1976 and November 2008.
Speaking from behind a white curtain in the witness box, the woman, who is now a headteacher, told jurors that Travis was showing her around his vehicle when he suddenly turned and pressed her against the wall.
Earlier, a woman told the jury she was left "absolutely rigid with fear" when, in 1983, Travis pinned her against the wall of his campervan and tried to stick his tongue in her mouth.
"I turned and he was on to me and his demeanour changed," she said. "I'd been absolutely rigid with fear and I realised it was that moment thinking: 'Oh my goodness, something was going to happen.'"
The former Top of the Pops host invited the then 19-year-old student into his "very very posh" campervan after he had played a DJ set at Nottingham's Trent Polytechnic, the court heard.
The woman said she felt "all the tension leave his body" as Travis moved in to kiss her. She managed to squirm free after ducking under his arm, before running all the way home, the court heard.
The woman, who is now a headteacher, told jurors that Travis was showing her around his vehicle when he suddenly turned and pressed her against the wall. "I turned and he was on to me and his demeanour changed," she said. "I'd been absolutely rigid with fear and I realised it was that moment thinking: 'Oh my goodness, something was going to happen.'"
"I felt I was lucky because I'd escaped," she said. "It felt so smooth, so slick, so rehearsed [I was] thinking, 'Gosh, I can't be the only one this has happened to.'"
The jury was told that the first time she met Travis he had taken hold of a security pass pinned to her top and said: "Securititties".
The woman said she had expected to be given Radio 1 T-shirts by Travis when he invited her into his campervan, which he had asked her to guard because he "didn't trust Nottingham".
A third woman who gave evidence in the trial told how she was left in tears when Travis "deliberately" groped her breasts in the middle of a busy office in early 2000. The former local radio journalist, who was 21 at the time of the alleged assault, told jurors she was "gutted" by the incident because she saw Travis as a "friendly granddad" who had been "very tactile" with her since her first day at the station in Buckinghamshire.
The jury was told that the first time she met Travis the veteran broadcaster held a security pass pinned to her top and said: "Securititties".
Travis grew animated in the dock as the headteacher described the encounter, at times huffing and shaking his head before humming to himself and standing up to pour himself a cup of water.
The woman, who said she would not tell her daughters about the incident, said she had been motivated to go to police when she saw Travis on the news denying he had ever indecently assaulted women.
Earlier on Thursday, a graduate journalist told the court how she fled to the toilet in tears after Travis "deliberately" groped her breasts in the middle of the office.
The former local radio journalist, who was 21 at the time of the alleged assault in the early 2000s, told jurors she was gutted by the incident because she saw the veteran DJ as a "friendly grandad" who had been "very tactile" with her since her first day in the office.
Shielded from Travis by the witness box curtain, the woman described how she shrugged Travis off after he touched her below her belly button, and as he moved back he "took his arms back very slowly, very deliberately over my breasts".
She said: "I felt confused. As soon as he left I got out of my seat and went to the toilet and remember thinking: 'Your eyes have filled up with tears.'
"I knew it felt horrible but couldn't work out why it felt horrible. Looking back I felt gutted because I liked him."
The woman said she was appearing as a witness at the trial of Travis at Southwark crown court because she "didn't want to be a victim".
She told the court in London that she did not report the incident at the time because she was too embarrassed.
"I think because I find it all very embarrassing, as I still do. You're not sure whether something is bad or not. It was my first job. I was young. I enjoyed my job. I didn't want that kind of discussion to happen," she said.
Travis denies molesting 11 young women, including a 15-year-old girl, over three decades going back to the height of his fame in the mid-1970s.
The trial continues.
The trial continues.
Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.
Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.
