Dave Lee Travis: I'm a normal, decent human being

Ex-Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis denies all the charges against him

DJ Dave Lee Travis has insisted he is a "normal, decent human being" and is "astonished" at the sex offence allegations made against him.

The ex-Radio 1 presenter, 68, told Southwark Crown Court he had "not been groping people for 40 years".

Mr Travis, of Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, also described the women who had made allegations against him as "fantasists".

He denies 13 counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault.

'Great predator'

During cross-examination, Mr Travis denied claims he was "a great predator" who had groped women in incidents dating back to the early 1970s.

"These things did not happen," he said.

"I'm a normal, decent human being. I play jokes on people. I cuddle people. And if there have been some sexual interactions in the past, it's been consensual."

He added: "It's been suggested that women threw themselves at me - thank God most of them missed."

Mr Travis denied prosecutor Miranda Moore QC's claims that he had grabbed a female journalist's breasts after asking her to pose for suggestive photographs, saying that he was "a professional".

"I'm a professional in my photographic life. I'm a professional in my broadcasting life," he said.

"I do not want to touch the breasts of anybody, let alone anybody who works for the press. That would be suicide.

"I have not been groping people for 40 years."

Mr Travis said he was "astonished" by claims that he had groped victims throughout the course of his career and had thought he could "get away with it".

"I'm really genuinely astonished with that," he told the court. "I've already been brought down, whatever happens in this case. It's affected me really badly."

Mr Travis is being tried under his real name, David Patrick Griffin.

The trial continues.