‘No victory’ says Travis after jury’s not guilty verdicts

Dave Lee Travis with his wife Marianne as he leaves Southwark Crown Court, London

Jurors at London’s Southwark Crown Court failed to reach verdicts on two other charges and were discharged, meaning there will be a further hearing on February 24 to decide whether to have a retrial on them.

Speaking outside the court, Travis, 68, said the case had cost him his reputation along with so much money that he has had to sell his house.

Flanked by Marianne, his wife of more than 40 years, Travis said: “I don’t feel like there is a victory in any way, shape or form.

“On the contrary, I think you already know that I have been through a year and a half of hell on this which included costing me so much money to pay out for my part of this trial.”

He added that he felt he had been through two trials - one by media and one in the court room.

Travis, known as DLT, showed no reaction as the verdicts were read out, looking straight ahead and listening with the aid of headphones, as he had done during the four weeks of evidence.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for more than 20 hours after a trial in which the former Top Of The Pops presenter was accused of indecently assaulting 10 women and sexually assaulting another in alleged incidents dating back to 1976 when he was at the height of his fame.

Prosecutors alleged that Travis was an “opportunist” who assaulted “vulnerable” young women while working at the BBC and commercial radio.

The verdicts came a week after Coronation Street star William Roache was cleared of a string of sex offences, prompting claims that he had been the victim of a “celebrity witchhunt” in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Travis, from Buckinghamshire, was arrested under Scotland Yard’s Operation Yewtree, which was prompted by abuse allegations involving the late Savile.

He was found not guilty of indecently assaulting nine women, but jurors failed to reach verdicts on the alleged indecent assault of a woman working on the pantomime Aladdin in the early 1990s along with an alleged sexual assault on a journalist who interviewed him at his home in 2008.

Giving evidence, Travis – on trial under his birth name David Griffin – told jurors he was not a “sexual predator” and the claims against him were “nonsensical”.

“I do not have a predatory nature with women, I have a cuddly nature. Maybe that’s what this is all about, but I am not predatory,” he said.