Dave Lee Travis Accused Of Panto Assault

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

A woman who worked on a panto with Dave Lee Travis has described how the star "engulfed her" during an alleged assault in his dressing room.

She explained she worked at the theatre in Crawley, Sussex, in the early 1990s.

The woman told Southwark Crown Court: "He was suddenly behind me, he is a big chap, he engulfed me."

She said she struggled to get away while the DJ allegedly held the door closed with his hand.

"He put his other hand down the front of my jogging pants, she said.

"I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"It felt like a long time but it was only probably a matter of moments before I got the door open."

When she did manage to get the door open she said she heard someone in the corridor say: "Alright Dave."

The woman said it was the Chuckle Brothers who were also starring in the panto.

She confirmed the police had told her that Paul and Barry Chuckle cannot remember the incident.

The woman said she would not have expected the pair to recall such a short encounter because neither of them saw the alleged indecent assault.

She said she then informed the stage manager and steps were taken to ensure she had no more contact with Travis.

However, she did see the star again in the bar and felt "humiliated and embarrassed" when he allegedly said to her in front of a group of people: "You don't come to my dressing room any more." 

A male colleague from the pantomime told the court that following the incident there was a "general consensus" among the cast and crew that women should not be left alone with the star who continued in his starring role.

The woman finished her evidence by saying: "I think it is important that women know that they don't have to accept this kind of behaviour."

Earlier, a former BBC employee said she felt "unprotected" in the face of sexual harassment while working at the corporation.

She alleged Travis grabbed her bottom while they recorded a show in a BBC studio.

The woman said this happened in the early 1980s.

She told the court: "I was really taken aback at that moment and that is why I remembered it really well."

The woman said she just tried to get on with her job and that any complaints she could have made "would have fallen on deaf ears".

She added: "They were celebrities and I was just a worker on the floor ... and I didn't see what I could do at the time. I felt unprotected if I am honest with you."

Working with an overwhelmingly male workforce led to "severe sexual harassment while I was there - it was verbal and coercive", she said.

Much of the harassment she ignored, but the alleged incident with Travis "crossed a physical boundary", she explained.

"I was working with men rigging and de-rigging and that takes a lot of close working."

But, she said, "this was something totally different".

A cameraman who worked on the same programmes as the woman also gave evidence in which he said he remembered his female colleague as "quite young, shy and easily embarrassed".

Travis denies 13 charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault that date from the 1970s until 2008.

The trial continues.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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