BBC pair’s sex in woods was ‘private moment’
TWO former BBC presenters accused of sexually assaulting underage boys in woods were making love in private and not performing in a “seedy Soho club”, a court heard yesterday.
Julie Wadsworth and her husband Tony were off the beaten track when they kissed and petted among the bushes, a jury was told.
She stupidly fondled young men who were spying on the couple because she was flattered by the thought they found her “attractive”.
But the radio host is on trial for alleged criminal offences in the 1990s and not her morals, her lawyer said. Mrs Wadsworth, 60, who was in her 30s at the time, believed the strangers at Mancetter Park, Warwickshire, were “young men” aged in their late teens, the jury heard.
David Hislop, QC, defending, said: “Unless you are Joan Collins it is very unusual to have a relationship with a man half your age, but it does happen. It is notoriously difficult to gauge age in the heat of the moment.
“She was flattered by the thought that young men found her attractive. She has undoubtedly been foolhardy and undoubtedly been stupid, but if she genuinely believed they were of age, she has a right to be found not guilty.”
Mr Wadsworth, now 69, is accused of acting as a look-out.
Damaged
At the time the couple worked together on BBC Leicester.
The former dancer lacked confidence and was body conscious, the court heard. “Julie Wadsworth’s husband described her as damaged and you might think he is right,” Mr Hislop said. “Not criminal, damaged. There is a very important distinction.
“Some may find it abhorrent that she would engage in sexual activity with men half her age. She was a damaged, incomplete soul because of her past.”
The prosecution had attempted to portray Mrs Wadsworth as a “salacious and predatory” woman, Mr Hislop said. But in reality she is a “very professional public figure,” he added.
The couple, of Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, deny outraging public decency and indecent assault.
The trial at Warwick Crown Court continues.