Two Tremeloes stars ‘took turns to assault girl, 15, in hotel room’
Attack took place in 1968 after concert, court told
TWO members of 1960s pop band the Tremeloes subjected a girl of 15 to a sex attack in a hotel room, it was alleged yesterday.
Leonard ‘Chip’ Hawkes and Rick Westwood are accused of indecently assaulting the girl after a pop concert in Chester more than 47 years ago.
They appeared in court for the first time yesterday and magistrates were told they face up to four years in jail if convicted.
Westwood, 72 – who sang the lead vocal on the group’s chart-topping single Silence Is Golden – shuffled into the dock at Chester magistrates court carrying a Tesco bag-forlife. He apologised to the court clerk for being ‘a little deaf’ before confirming his name, address and date of birth.
Hawkes, 70, who is the father of 80s pop star Chesney Hawkes, stood beside his bandmate
‘Make sure she got a bed that night’
and also confirmed his details. Rob Youds, prosecuting, said the offence took place in April 1968 – at the height of the band’s fame – after the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attended a concert of another 1960s rock group.
mr Youds said: ‘The complainant was 15 at the time. She says she went to a concert in Chester to see a group called the Herd.
‘There, she encountered members of another group called the Tremeloes – the two defendants were members of the group at the time.
‘members of the Tremeloes told her they would make sure she got a bed that night. She went to a hotel in Chester and was taken to a hotel room.’ While in she was in bed, both men allegedly subjected her to similar, but separate, indecent assaults.
Westwood, of Crowthorne in Berkshire, and Hawkes, of Chertsey, Surrey, face one count of indecent assault each. Both indicated that they would plead not guilty when they appear before Chester Crown Court in April.
mr Youds said the alleged attack was a ‘ category two’ offence under the Sexual Offences Act and could carry a jail term of up to four years. The men were granted unconditional bail but were subjected to foulmouthed abuse from members of the public as they left the court.
Formed in 1958, the band had ten top-ten hits in the 1960s, including two number ones: Do You Love me in 1963 (as Brian Poole and the Tremeloes) and Silence is Golden in 1967. Westwood joined in 1961, shortly before the band won a recording contract with Decca, who had turned down the Beatles.
Hawkes joined as bass player in 1966. He left in 1988 to manage his son Chesney, best-known for his number one single I Am The One and Only.