Ex-DJ Jonathan King in court charged with 18 sex attacks on teenage boys

Former pop mogul Jonathan King has appeared in court accused of sexually abusing nine teenage boys during his music career – dating back almost half a century. The 72-year-old, from Bayswater in central London, allegedly attacked a 16-year-old boy in 1970 and carried out a string of sex assaults on eight victims between 1978 and 1988. Mr King, appearing under his real name Kenneth George King, confirmed his identity from the dock. Prosecutor Deborah Jeffrey said: “Mr King faces 18 charges in relation to historic allegations of sexual assault by nine different men.” His lawyer, Steven Bird, told the court Mr King intends to fight the charges. District Judge Emma Arbuthnot released Mr King on bail to appear at Southwark Crown Court on July 24. Mr King has been charged by Surrey Police part of the force’s Operation Ravine, an investigation launched in 2015 into claims of sexual abuse at the Walton Hop Disco in Walton-on-Thames. Ravine followed a review by Merseyside Police into an earlier investigation, Operation Arundel, which dated back to 2000. A force spokesperson said in May: “The independent review was commissioned in January 2014 to ensure all lines of inquiry had been identified. “A number of actions have subsequently been progressed under Operation Ravine, leading to new allegations of sexual offences being identified.” The former DJ claims to have discovered Genesis in the Sixties as a fledgling music producer, and went on to produce hits for 10cc and the Bay City Rollers. He was a Top of the Pops regular in the Eighties and in the 1990s produced the Brit Awards.