Court rejects disgraced DJ Dave Lee Travis' challenge against sex assault conviction

Former Radio 1 star Dave Lee Travis has lost a challenge against his conviction for indecent assault.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal in London dismissed an application by the disgraced DJ, who was found guilty last year of groping a young researcher behind the scenes at The Mrs Merton Show in 1995.

Following his conviction the former Top Of The Pops presenter, now aged 70, said he was “mortified” and ”really disappointed”.

He was sentenced to three months in prison, suspended for two years, by a judge at Southwark Crown Court in London.

Travis was present in court today when Lady Justice Hallett, Mrs Justice McGowan and Mrs Justice May rejected his bid to overturn his conviction.

Lady Justice Hallett announced: “We are driven to the conclusion that there are no arguable grounds of appeal and accordingly the application for leave to appeal must be refused.”

The trial jury heard he assaulted his victim – now a successful TV personality - in the corridor of a BBC studio where she was smoking, commenting on her ”poor little lungs” before squeezing her breasts for 10 to 15 seconds.

Travis, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, who became a household name in the 1970s, was first arrested in October 2012 under Operation Yewtree, Scotland Yard’s investigation into historic sexual abuse in the wake of allegations against the late DJ Jimmy Savile.

His QC Stephen Vullo told the appeal judges that the events which followed his arrest had “devastated his career, ruined his reputation, and damaged his finances beyond repair”.

Two trials lasting “many weeks”, with two separate juries, had “resulted in a single conviction”.

He told the court: “We have evidence now that (the complainant) lied to the jury.”