Detectives first received claims of sexual assault in April after the BBC aired a documentary revealing allegations against Westwood, 64, by seven women. He categorically denied any wrongdoing. Soon after, police began assessing more reports, including alleged attacks in London, Essex and Hertfordshire. The BBC later reported complaints from 10 other women, one claiming she had started having sex with Westwood after meeting him in a club when she was 14. Scotland Yard did not name Westwood, but when asked about the allegations aired on the BBC, it said in a statement: “Detectives from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime are continuing to investigate four reports relating to allegations of non-recent sexual offenses alleged to were committed by a man. “The offenses are alleged to have occurred in London in 1982, 1985, 2010 and 2016. No arrests have been made, inquiries are ongoing.” The pioneering hip-hop DJ worked for BBC Radio One from 1994 to 2013 and had a huge following as a club performer. He quit his Capital Xtra radio show in April when the BBC allegations emerged, with women alleging predatory and unwanted sexual behavior and abuse of his position in the music industry. This week, the BBC is expected to publish the findings of an internal investigation into Westwood’s career, prompted by his documentary based on research by its own journalists and the Guardian newspaper. The day after the story broke in April, BBC director-general Tim Davie said he had “seen no evidence of complaints”, but the corporation later confirmed it had received six complaints of bullying and sexual harassment, one of which forwarded to the police at H ora.
