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Two BBC presenters charged with child sex abuse

Saturday, 09 April 2016 10:16 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 12 April 2016 3:03 AM ]

BBC Radio presenters Tony and Julie Wadsworth

Two BBC Radio presenters have been charged with child sex offences dating back to the 1990s, police say.

Warwickshire police said on Friday that the charges against Tony and Julie Wadsworth relate to four children aged between 11 and 15.

The couple, who have presented on BBC Radio Leicester and BBC WM in Birmingham, are expected to appear in court on 11 May.

Tony Wadsworth, 68, has been charged with five counts of inciting a boy under the age of 16 to commit an act of gross indecency. His wife has been charged with seven counts of a similar offence.

They both also face one count of committing an act outraging public decency.

“We understand the charges do not relate to their conduct or position at the BBC,” said a BBC spokesman, adding that the presenters remain off air.

The British state-run BBC has been rocked by revelations surrounding its former TV host, Jimmy Savile, who was later unmasked as a sexual predator.

Savile died in 2011 and following his death, hundreds of allegations of sex abuse and rape of minors became public.

Several high-profile figures have been arrested in connection with the multiple investigations into the abuse scandal surrounding the BBC’s ex-presenter.

In January 2013, a report by the police and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children branded Savile as one of the UK’s most prolific known sexual predators, who used his celebrity status to “hide in plain sight.”

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