Paul Gambaccini secures CPS payout over unfounded abuse claims

Radio DJ Paul Gambaccini has secured a payout from prosecutors over unfounded allegations of historical sex offences.

The presenter, 69, was arrested in 2013 over a claim he sexually assaulted two teenage boys in the early 1980s.

Mr Gambaccini always denied the claims, calling the case "completely fictitious". He spent a year on bail before the case was dropped.

The amount paid to Mr Gambaccini by the Crown Prosecution Service has not been disclosed due to confidentiality.

But the CPS confirmed: "We have reached an agreement without admission of liability".

Former BBC Radio 1 presenter Mr Gambaccini, who now hosts Radio 2's Pick of the Pops, has given an interview to the Daily Mail in which he describes how his life was turned upside down.

He told the paper: "I was too angry to cry."

His arrest was part of the Metropolitan Police's Operation Yewtree investigation, which was set up following revelations about paedophile Jimmy Savile.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Gambaccini said that, following his arrest, organisations he had supported throughout his life like the Labour Party "ghosted" him.

He added his arrest also soured his relationship with the BBC.

"There was no greater defender of the BBC than me," he told the paper, "but they never tried to make it up to me after I was cleared".

Mr Gambaccini said he now had "no relationship" with the BBC other than turning up to host his Radio 2 shows.

When approached for comment, a BBC spokesman said: "Paul is valued and appreciated by the BBC, which is why he presents two much-loved shows."

The American-born broadcaster previously said he was the victim of a "witch hunt" and that he had endured "12 months of trauma".

He gave evidence to a committee of MPs about his experience and backed calls for a 28-day limit on police bail. The bail limit was introduced two years later.