Radio duo court date set
TWO BBC radio presenters charged with a string of sex offences against boys in the 1990s are set to stand trial next year.
Married couple Tony and Julie Wadsworth, from Broughton Astley, who have both worked for BBC Radio Leicester and Birmingham-based BBC WM, were charged by Warwickshire Police earlier this year.
Both broadcasters appeared at Warwick Crown Court on June 28 in what had been listed for plea hearing, but spoke only to confirm their names.
No formal pleas were entered during the 40-minute hearing, after an application by the Crown Prosecution Service’s QC Miranda Moore.
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC set down a provisional trial date for May 15 2017, but ordered the case to come back before the court for “further management hearings” on October 14, and then March 31 2017.
Earlier this year, Tony Wadsworth, 68, of Old Mill Road, Broughton Astley, appeared before magistrates charged with five counts of inciting a boy under the age of 16 to commit an act of gross indecency.
His wife, 59, also of Old Mill Road, is facing seven counts of the same offence. She uses the surname Mayer on air.
The allegations relate to offences said to have been committed between 1995 and 1999 in Atherstone.
The couple also face a charge of outraging public decency “by behaving in an indecent manner” between January 1994 and January 1996.
The BBC confirmed in April the charges do not relate to the presenters’ positions with the corporation.
Concluding the hearing, Judge Lockhart granted bail on condition that the Wadsworths have “no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18”, and “stand down from charity work which may involve under-18s”.