DJ: I let wife have trysts with boys to boost her self-esteem
A BBc radio host yesterday said he encouraged his wife to have sex sessions with boys because it ‘empowered’ her.
Tony Wadsworth said it was a ‘positive’ thing for spouse Julie because she had been ‘damaged’ by an abusive former partner.
The pair are accused of a string of sex offences involving under-age teenagers in the 1990s, when they were working as DJs in the Midlands. in the dock at Warwick crown court yesterday, Mr Wadsworth claimed that allowing his wife, 60, to romp with strangers helped boost her confidence.
in an impassioned speech, the 69-year-old said: ‘i hope she doesn’t mind me saying this. But because of Julie’s past history with an abusive partner i think it’s fair to say that Julie was, and to some extent still is, a damaged person today.
‘She was not confident in her appearance, and certainly not confident in her body. it was a positive, because she felt empowered as a woman’, he said.
Becoming tearful, Mr Wadsworth added: ‘i tried my best to bring out the confidence in her, i wanted to demonstrate to her i was not the jealous type.
‘i wanted to show her she was not just attractive to me but to others as well.’
The jury heard details of the couple’s first encounter in woods by Atherstone golf club in north Warwickshire. The Wadsworths said they were kissing and cuddling when they became aware of a young man who he said was ‘16, 17 possibly 18’ watching them in the undergrowth.
Mr Wadsworth said it was ‘clear what he was hoping to do’, so he stepped aside to let the young man fondle his wife’s breasts – and said he found it both ‘exhilarating and exciting’.
‘That it’s not just me – the world and his wife can see the beautiful woman that she is’, he added. ‘i love her to bits and i am very proud of her.’
Wadsworth later admitted he found the experience ‘sexually titillating’.
Asked if he got a kick out of watching his wife, he replied: ‘As it transpired, yes. But i wouldn’t break the law.’
He added: ‘[it’s all] come back to bite us in the bum.’
Miranda Moore Qc, prosecuting, said Mrs Wadsworth was somebody who ‘courted publicity at the twang of a stocking’. She told the jury: ‘She was a woman who relished the attention. Julie wanted to do this, she got a kick out of it, he [Tony] did as well, out of some misguided love for her.’ Mr Wadsworth told the court the first incident had taken place without a word being exchanged.
‘After the heat of the moment was over, it was all very embarrassing and awkward’, he added.
‘We tidied ourselves up and we all went our separate ways.’ He said there had been a second and final encounter in the woods involving three boys. Afterwards he said the couple agreed what was happening was ‘ridiculous, foolhardy and stupid and there would be no repetition’.
The former DJ, who lives with his wife in Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, described the claim that the encounters involved youngsters under 16 as ‘outrageous’. He also denied a prosecution allegation the couple had enjoyed a ‘threesome’ with a boy at their former home.
The Wadsworths, who used the names Wadsworth and Mayer on air, broadcast most recently on BBc radio Leicester.
Both have accepted having sexual encounters in the woods between 1992 and 1996. but say they were ‘young men’ rather than children.
The couple deny indecent assault and outraging public decency.
The trial continues.