BBC admits it received Tim Westwood sexual misconduct complaint

The BBC’s director-general is facing questions over Tim Westwood sexual misconduct claims, after the corporation revealed it knew about a historic complaint against the DJ.

Sexual misconduct claims against former Radio 1 DJ Westwood were made in April, and Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, branded the allegations “shocking”, but stated that a records check at the broadcaster revealed “no evidence of complaints”.

A historic complaint against Westwood that was referred to the police has now been “found on file” by the BBC, raising questions over why the corporation was initially unaware of this evidence within its own records.

It is understood that an internal probe uncovered the historic claim following Mr Davie’s comments, and further investigation will seek to establish why this complaint was not flagged to BBC leadership before the public announcement in April, and what action was taken at the time the complaint was made.

The broadcaster has said that Mr Davie had spoken in April “based on information he had at the time”, with a spokesman adding: “This is a historic case that the BBC has found in its files. We are establishing the facts around it.

“It did not relate to conduct at the BBC, BBC premises, or conduct towards a BBC staff member, nor was it an accusation of physical assault.”

The complaint is one of six now received by the BBC regarding the conduct of influential hip-hop DJ Westwood. The corporation will not confirm whether the other five complaints were made before or after Mr Davie spoke.

Westwood, 64, was accused in April of predatory and unwanted sexual behaviour and touching in incidents between 1992 and 2017, with seven women giving detailed accounts of alleged incidents which were aired in a BBC Three documentary.

Westwood, who worked for Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra before joining Capital XTRA, has strenuously denied the claims against him.

A BBC spokesman said that the corporation would continue to investigate all historic and future complaints, stating: “As we have said, if people have things that they want to raise with the BBC, then they should do so. People have now done so and we will continue to investigate.

“We also said that we would dig into what happened in the past. We are doing that with great care. All of that work hasn’t concluded and is ongoing. We said we would take this seriously, and we are. When that work has concluded, we will say more.”