- .DJ cleared on 12 of 14 charges he faced at Southwark Crown Court
- .Jury failed to reach a verdict on claims he groped theatre worker and touched journalist's breasts during interview
- .Crown will announce later this month whether he will face a retrial
- .Travis, 68, said he was 'not delighted at all' by the mixed verdict
- .Says he had to sell his house to pay legal bills and 'lost his reputation'
By HUGO GYE
Dave Lee Travis today said that he saw his reputation destroyed and was forced to sell his home during 'a year and a half of hell' as he was cleared of 12 charges of indecent assault.
The veteran DJ may face a retrial over one more count of indecent assault and a charge of sexual assault after the jury at Southwark Crown Court failed to reach a verdict on the two charges.
Prosecution officials said they would wait until next week to decide whether or not to attempt a fresh trial.
The verdict, which comes just a week after former Coronation Street star Bill Roache was cleared of rape and indecent assault, could raise questions about why the Crown Prosecution Service decided to prosecute Travis on the 12 charges of which he was found not guilty.
Speaking outside court, the former Top of the Pops presenter said he was 'not delighted at all' by the verdict.
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'Year and a half of hell': Dave Lee Travis pictured speaking outside Southwark Crown Court today
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Verdict: Dave Lee Travis and his wife Marianne arriving at Southwark Crown Court today
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Couple: The pair arrived together as the jury began a fourth day of deliberations
The two charges over which Travis could face further action relate to the allegation that he indecently assaulted a theatre worker while appearing in a pantomime with the Chuckle Brothers, and the claim that he grabbed a journalist's breasts as she was interviewing him at his home.
In a statement following the verdict, Travis added: 'I'm not over the moon about any of this today - I don't feel like this is a victory in any way, shape or form.
'On the contrary, I think you already know I've been through a year and a half of hell on this, which included costing me so much money to pay for my part of this trial that I have to sell my house in order to do it.
'That's OK, because there are lots of people worse off than me. However, I did lose my reputation as well, which I may try and get back later.'
He went on to complain that he had suffered a 'trial by media', concluding: 'All I want to do is go home and relax with my wife, who's also been suffering through all this with me and been by my side all this time.'
Travis showed no emotion when the verdict was read out after around 20 hours of deliberation from the jury, who were told this morning that they could deliver a majority verdict if they could not agree unanimously.
He was supported by his wife Marianne and former personal assistant Margaret Merritt, a defence witness in the trial, who were sitting in the public gallery.
Another hearing will be take place at the same court on February 24, to decide whether Travis will face any further action over the two counts on which he was not cleared.
Judge Anthony Leonard thanked the jury before discharging them and told Travis he would be bailed on the same conditions as before.
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Reaction: Travis showed no emotion when the verdict was read out by jurors
The 14 charges against Travis, 68, who is from Buckinghamshire, dated between 1976 and 2008 and related to 11 different women, none of whom can be named for legal reasons.
One alleged victim was an 18-year-old clerk at the BBC in 1976 when Travis started offering her lifts in his yellow Pontiac, she told the court.
At one point, he invited her into the studio at Broadcasting House to watch him record his show, then ground against her while a romantic song was playing, she claimed.
He told the court he did not give lifts to junior members of staff around the time of the alleged incident.
One of the witnesses said that Travis attacked her during a Showaddywaddy concert when she was just 15, saying 'I love big boobs' and flicking her nipples.
She added: 'I was crying, I was shouting at him to stop. I thought he was going to rape me.'
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Inside: The scene in the courtroom today as the judge addresses the jury, with Travis standing and his wife watching from the public gallery
Another alleged attack was caught on camera, the court heard, as a 17-year-old claimed the DJ 'had a fumble' up her skirt while he was presenting Top of the Pops in 1978.
Jurors were told that the alleged incident took place while Travis introduced a performance by the Smurfs, but it was edited out of the show when it was broadcast.
The teenager and a friend who said she witnessed the assault both decided not to say anything because they thought no one would believe them.
Travis suggested that if he had been seen touching the girl, 'the book would have been thrown at me and I would have been out of the BBC', and denied the suggestion that he had asked for the footage to be edited.
In the early 1980s, he allegedly stood behind a trainee radio announcer as she was introducing Women's Hour on Radio 4 live on air.
She told jurors she did not report the attack because she was scared of being thought of as someone who 'couldn't take a joke' and potentially losing her job.
However, Travis said that although he and his fellow DJs were keen on practical jokes he would never have interrupted a BBC broadcast.
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Trial: Dave Lee Travis with his wife Marianne arriving at Southwark Crown Court today
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Support: Mrs Travis, pictured with her husband on Tuesday, has been in court since the jury started deliberating
Travis was accused of assaulting a receptionist in his room at a hotel in Bude, Cornwall, as he toured the country with Radio 1 in 1983 or 1984.
She said that he had asked her to take his bags into the bedroom, then gave her a hug and started rubbing her backside.
Around the same time, he was alleged to have molested a student union official when he was performing at Nottingham Polytechnic University.
When she was guarding his trailer, he touched her breasts and called her 'securi-titty' before she fled, the court heard.
He denied both claims when he was on the stand.
A theatre worker said that Travis assaulted her in his dressing room when he was appearing in a pantomime in Crawley, West Sussex in the early 1990s.
She claimed he put his hand down her underwear, only stopping when one of his co-stars the Chuckle Brothers walked past the door.
Giving evidence, the children's entertainers - whose real names are Barry and Paul Elliott - described Travis as a 'great chap' who was 'very professional'.
Travis said: 'If I had sexually assaulted this girl in my dressing room, I would fully expect her to go and tell her boss and the boss would tell the person running the panto and that would immediately get me in big trouble.'
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'Assault': This video still from Top of the Pops shows Travis with a girl he accused of molesting during filming
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Witnesses: Barry and Paul Elliott, known as the Chuckle Brothers, gave evidence in Travis' defence
The DJ was also alleged to have assaulted a British Airways worker on two occasions when he hosted corporate events for the airline in the 1990s.
The woman, who was 23 at the time, said Travis singled her out on the dancefloor and made her dance the lambada with him, and claimed he became aroused as he 'grinded' against her.
She told jurors she was horrified when he appeared at the company's Christmas party a month later where he made her sit on his knee and put his hand inside her underwear.
Asked about the BA employee's claims in court, Travis replied: 'Am I allowed to laugh? Because I’m sorry, it’s a situation which did not happen.'
More recent allegations included that he groped two female colleagues at Classic Gold radio in the early 2000s, while the sexual assault count related to him allegedly grabbing the breasts of a journalist who interviewed him at his home in 2008.
A former employee of Chiltern FM, which shared a building with Classic Gold, said that she confronted Travis in the newsroom, calling him a 'pervert' after he put his hand up her skirt.
He insisted the claims were 'completely 100 per cent fabricated', adding that any physical contact must have come when he accidentally brushed against her during an argument.
The magazine writer who interviewed him claimed that he groped her after she had joked that her breasts were too small for him to photograph her.
But Travis said: 'I’m not likely to get somebody to agree to do a photograph with me if I’m putting my hands all over them.'
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Arrest: The investigation began as a result of the abuse allegations against Travis' former colleague Jimmy Savile, right
Another claim, not included in the charges, came from a former carnival princess who told the court that Travis put his hand up her skirt and touched her breast while they were alone at the opening of a hospital radio station in 1973.
The DJ told the court he would not have been left alone with the alleged victim because he was 'too important', and claimed his wife was present at the time.
Giving evidence, Travis - on trial under his birth name David Griffin - told jurors he was not a 'sexual predator' and the claims against him were 'nonsensical'.
'I do not have a predatory nature with women, I have a cuddly nature. Maybe that's what this is all about, but I am not predatory,' he said.
Travis also said he would have reported Jimmy Savile to police if he had known the television star was a paedophile, but denied the two had ever been close.
The entertainer was supported by a host of defence witnesses, including the Chuckle Brothers, Patricia 'Dee Dee' Wilde of Top Of The Pops dance troupe Pan's People, and former colleagues at the BBC and elsewhere.
Travis's wife Marianne has been in court to support him since the jury retired to consider its verdicts on Monday.
He was arrested under Scotland Yard's Operation Yewtree, which was prompted by allegations of abuse involving Savile, although the allegations against Travis were not connected to Savile.
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