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Alleged assault by Dave Lee Travis 'was not Carry On-style playful act' | Alleged assault by Dave Lee Travis 'was not Carry On-style playful act' |
(35 minutes later) | |
The comedian Dave Gorman has told a court that colleagues on the Mrs Merton Show believed an alleged assault by veteran DJ Dave Lee Travis on a female television personality was aggressive and not a Carry On-style "playful" act. | |
He said that the former Radio 1 star had appeared as a guest on the comedy chatshow in the mid-1990s when he heard later claims that Travis had grabbed the woman's breasts in the corridor of the BBC television studio. | |
The alleged victim, who was working as a part of the show's production crew at the time, told the court on Wednesday that Travis got a "weird sexual thrill" as he squeezed her breasts, and the former Tops Of The Pops presenter had an "intense" stare during the incident. | |
Gorman, who was a writer on the Mrs Merton Show show, told Travis's retrial at Southwark crown court in London: "I was told that as [the woman] was escorting Mr Travis back to his dressing room, he at some point … grabbed her tits. My recollection was everyone in the team would have known. This was office gossip to some extent. | |
"I recall discussions and questions about whether it had been a sort of 'Carry On film wahey', which might be playful, albeit ill-judged, or whether it was aggressive. My recollection was it was aggressive." | |
Travis, 69, who is charged under his real name David Griffin, denies two counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault. | Travis, 69, who is charged under his real name David Griffin, denies two counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault. |
He is facing a retrial on two counts – one of indecent assault of a woman between 1 November 1990 and 31 January 1991, and another of sexual assault on a different woman between 1 June 2008 and 30 November 2008 - on which a jury was unable to reach verdicts at a trial earlier this year. | He is facing a retrial on two counts – one of indecent assault of a woman between 1 November 1990 and 31 January 1991, and another of sexual assault on a different woman between 1 June 2008 and 30 November 2008 - on which a jury was unable to reach verdicts at a trial earlier this year. |
Travis, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, has also pleaded not guilty to an additional count of indecent assault alleged to have taken place on 17 January 1995. | Travis, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, has also pleaded not guilty to an additional count of indecent assault alleged to have taken place on 17 January 1995. |