The company says it is looking into six complaints relating to Westwood, including some that date back, raising serious questions about what it said publicly after a joint Guardian and BBC investigation was published on April 26. The story contained allegations of sexual misconduct by the former Radio 1 DJ, which he denied, prompting statements from managing director Tim Davie. The next day, Davey said he had “seen no evidence of complaints” – but the BBC has now confirmed it has received six, which it is assessing as part of a review launched into Westwood’s 19-year career at the company. As well as one matter referred to the police, the BBC confirmed it had spoken to Westwood in relation to another complaint. The Guardian understands that some of these complaints were in the past and were found in BBC archives – including one that was referred to the police. Others were made after the story was published. The BBC said the complaint it made to police was not related to an allegation of physical assault, adding that it would be able to say more when its investigation was complete. Police declined to comment on whether they had received or how they handled any referrals. In a statement to the Guardian, the BBC said Davey “put the position as he understood it at the time”. In April, the Guardian published testimony from seven women who alleged sexual misconduct against Westwood. They claimed he abused his position in the music industry to take advantage of them. The DJ has steadfastly denied all allegations against him, with a spokesperson saying there have never been any complaints against him “officially or unofficially”. The new details emerged after BBC News protested the company’s response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, as part of a joint Guardian/BBC investigation. The BBC has now confirmed that it received six complaints about Westwood’s conduct relating to the period 1994-2013 when he worked for the BBC. The BBC said the complaints related to allegations of bullying and sexual misconduct, and some related to Westwood’s behavior outside the BBC. The company did not say whether any of the complaints had been upheld. “We are aware that one of these complaints was referred to the police and Mr Westwood spoke in relation to another complaint,” the BBC confirmed. “We do not know what further action has been taken at this stage. As a result of this, we are reviewing the actions taken at the time.” Asked to elaborate, a BBC spokesman said an internal investigation was ongoing. “As we have said, if people have things they want to report to the BBC then they should. People have done it now and we will continue to investigate. We also said we would dig into what was done in the past. We do this very carefully. All of this work is not complete and is a work in progress. We said we’d take it seriously and we are. When this work is completed, we will say more.” On the matter being referred to the police, the spokesman added: “This is a historic case which the BBC has found in its files. We find out the facts surrounding it. It did not relate to conduct at the BBC, BBC premises or conduct towards a member of BBC staff, nor was it an allegation of physical assault.’ He did not elaborate and it is unclear whether Westwood was informed of the referral. The BBC volunteered the new information following a challenge by BBC News reporter Chi Chi Izundu over the company’s handling of an initial FoI request last year. At that point, the company refused to say anything about Westwood, refusing to confirm or deny whether it had any information about Westwood’s behavior. The response said her stance had changed since the investigation was published in April, which included the broadcast of the BBC Three program Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power. In a statement following the Guardian/BBC investigation into allegations of sexual harassment made against Westwood in April, the BBC said it was “shocked”. A spokesman had said: “The BBC is against any form of inappropriate behavior and we are shocked to hear these allegations. The BBC has strict codes of conduct for everyone involved with the BBC, including on-air presenters.’ Davey, who was head of radio production at the BBC when Westwood was the voice of rap and hip-hop on Radio 1, called the claims “shocking” the day after the allegations were made, but said he had not seen evidence of complaints made against the DJ at the BBC. He described the sexual harassment allegations made against Westwood as “disgusting” and urged anyone with evidence to come forward. After the initial allegations, Davie said: “It is shocking and the women’s testimony is powerful and horrific. I credit the BBC and Guardian teams with continuing the story.” Asked if the BBC had any records of formal complaints about Westwood, he said: “I have seen no evidence of complaints. I asked and we looked through our records and didn’t see any evidence. “Every complaint must be taken seriously. If anything comes up we will investigate it fully. If people have evidence that things weren’t tracked or are concerned in this area, bring it to us… we’ll track anything and dig and dig and dig. If people have evidence of wrongdoing, we need to bring it forward.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST A Westwood spokesman said the allegations were completely false and denied them in their entirety when the investigation was published in April. His lawyers said he was a well-respected and very successful DJ: “Any suggestion that he is acting or has acted in the way described would be false and seriously defamatory.” They said he wanted to make it clear that he did not behave in the manner described. Following publication, a Westwood spokesperson added: “Tim Westwood vehemently denies all allegations of misconduct. In a career that spanned 40 years, there were never any complaints against him officially or unofficially. Tim Westwood strongly denies all allegations of wrongdoing.” Westwood did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
