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Business News Legal
Former Savile associate and radio DJ found guilty of multiple sexual assaults
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 8 December 2014
Former radio DJ and Jimmy Savile associate Ray Teret, who worked for Radio Caroline back in the day as well as a number of commercial stations in the North West, was found guilty of seven charges of rape and eleven of sexual assault last week. He will return to Manchester Crown Court on the city’s Minshull Street later this week to be sentenced.
As previously reported, Teret met Savile in the early 1960s at a singing competition organised by the latter, and they subsequently shared a Manchester flat together. Teret was accused of exploiting the minor celebrity status his radio work rewarded him, and his association with Savile, to assault young girls.
He was found not guilty of one of the charges against him, aiding and abetting Savile to rape a fifteen year old girl in the early 1960s, but he was found guilty of raping the complainant himself, along with the other seventeen charges.
Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North West, told reporters after last week’s guilty verdict: “During the 60s and 70s Ray Teret was a popular Manchester DJ. He used this status to target young and vulnerable girls who were impressionable and in some cases simply star struck. He singled his victims out for attention, using charm and flattery, before subjecting them to traumatic and callous assaults. Some he groomed over a period of time, whilst others he assaulted soon after he first approached them. Some of the victims were only thirteen years of age”.
He went on: “The victims in this case have lived with the reality of what Ray Teret did for many years. It has had a significant impact upon all of their lives – personally, professionally and socially. In some cases it has had devastating consequences. Most of them felt they couldn’t tell anyone about it until recently. Many of them had thought it was their fault – it was never their fault. They have all shown enormous bravery in coming forward to the police and in attending court to speak out about what happened”.
He concluded: “Their collective courage has ensured that Ray Teret has been brought to justice today. He must now face up to the reality and consequences of his offences. I hope today’s verdict will in some way help these victims to move on with their lives and I also hope it provides other victims of sexual abuse with the courage and confidence to come forward”.
Another former radio DJ guilty of a string of indecent assaults, in his case against boys aged nine to sixteen, will also be sentenced later this week. Former BBC DJ Chris Denning pleaded guilty to 29 charges of sexual assault back in August, and another ten last month.
Denning’s charges stem from the Operation Yewtree investigation launched in the wake of the posthumous allegations of sexual assault made against Savile. However the Teret case – although very much linked to Savile – was actually a separate police investigation.
