Tony Wadsworth

Tony Wadsworth and Julie Wadsworth ( Mayer, known professionally by her maiden name) are former English radio presenters and convicted paedophilia child sexual abusers who presented shows on both BBC Radio WM and BBC Radio Leicester. They were most recently heard on Radio Leicester, and for a time were known as the "Richard and Judy" of local radio. In 2017, they were both sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted on several counts of historic child sexual abuse that occurred during the 1990s.

Marriage and radio careers Tony Wadsworth was born in Leicester circa 1947. He worked for a time in his family's business, before getting into broadcasting, presenting Weekdays with Waddo on BBC Radio Leicester. His father, Tommy Wadsworth, was also a presenter at Radio Leicester, and was one of the first voices to be heard on the station when it launched in 1968. The younger Wadsworth met Julie Mayer while she was working as a seamstress at Leicester's Haymarket Theatre and hired her to make a costume for a charity event. They were married in 1994. In 2004, Mayer revealed that she had been diagnosed with skin cancer. She was given the all clear the following year after undergoing surgery. There, Wadsworth presented the weekday mid-morning show, while Mayer was a travelling reporter, presenting from the station's radio car on both the breakfast show and the programme that followed. The Wadsworths presented at BBC Leicester until their arrests in 2015.

Charity work and awards Wadsworth and Mayer involved themselves in charity, including raising funds for children's charities, and in 2001 organised Tony and Julie's Children of Merit honours for children who had "shown great courage or exceptional kindness." Medals for the awards were produced by the Birmingham Mint. On another occasion, Wadsworth performed in a Beatles tribute band for charity. Julie Wadsworth once posed for a BBC-sanctioned Calendar Girls-style photoshoot to raise funds for Children in Need.

Child sexual abuse allegations and conviction In January 2016, the Wadsworths went off air for "personal reasons," and in April it was announced that both had been charged with historical child sex offences. Their trial at Warwick Crown Court began on 19 May 2017; the couple denied the charges.

The charges mostly involved the couple luring young boys into sex with Mayer while Wadsworth acted as a "lookout."

On 9 June 2017, the Wadsworths were convicted on nine charges of indecently assaulting six under-age boys and on five counts of outraging public decency, by a majority verdict of 10–2. Mayer was cleared of a further charge relating to an incident said to have occurred at the couple's home.

Following their convictions, a spokesperson for the BBC stated that the Wadsworths were no longer were employed by the corporation. De Montfort University revoked Tony Wadsworth's doctorate. The Wadsworths became eligible to be considered for parole on 6 January 2020. On 7 November 2021, the Sunday Mercury reported that the couple had recently been released from prison.