The Metropolitan police are investigating sexual offence allegations against the DJ Tim Westwood, one of which dates back 40 years, it is understood.
The force’s central specialist crime unit was looking into four reports of historical offences allegedly committed in London, from 1982, 1985, 2010 and 2016, a spokesperson said.
The Met statement did not name Westwood, who was a DJ at BBC Radio 1 from 1994 to 2013.
In April, a joint investigation by the Guardian and BBC News published allegations of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour made by several women. Westwood, 64, subsequently stepped down from his show on Capital Xtra.
He denied all the allegations, with a spokesperson for him saying there had never been any complaints against him “officially or unofficially”.
Ten more women made claims of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour in a further Guardian/BBC News investigation in July. The report included a claim from a woman who said Westwood first had sex with her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s in the early 1990s. Westwood did not respond to a request for comment for that story.
A statement from Scotland Yard on Thursday said: “Detectives from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime continue to investigate four reports relating to allegations of non-recent sexual offences allegedly committed by a man. The offences are alleged to have occurred in London in 1982, 1985, 2010 and 2016. There have been no arrests, inquiries continue.”
The BBC has faced questions in relation to Westwood after it initially denied receiving complaints against him. The day after the investigation was first published, the BBC director general, Tim Davie, insisted the corporation had “no evidence of complaints” against Westwood.
But the corporation backtracked in July, admitting it had received six complaints of alleged bullying and sexual misconduct relating to when the DJ was an employee, some of them received after publication of the first Guardian/BBC News stories.
Westwood was approached for comment.
