DJ Andy Kershaw escapes jail time

DJ Andy Kershaw escapes jail time

By Nigel Bunyan
Last Updated: 2:35pm BST 09/10/2007

Andy Kershaw, the troubled BBC DJ, was spared jail for harassing his ex-girlfriend today by a judge who admitted he was a fan of his radio show.

Kershaw, 48, had previously spent six nights in a prison cell on the Isle of Man after drunkenly trying to force his way through Juliette Banner’s front door and challenging her new boyfriend to a fight.

The doyen of 'world music’ was enraged that Miss Banner, 42, a London restaurateur, was preventing him from seeing their children, Sonny, nine, and Dolly, eight.

Kershaw was given a three-month prison term, suspended for 18 months, after admitting being in breach of an harassment order.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of drink-driving and was given a 16-month ban.

Ironically, the DJ was set free by a fan. Michael Moyle, the island’s High Bailiff, revealed that as a teenager he had listened to Kershaw’s late night shows on Radio 1.

He told Kershaw he was not prepared to make him a "martyr".

As he left the courtroom a smiling Kershaw shouted an apology to Mr Moyle, saying he was sorry for having kept him awake so often.

Afterwards he said he was "relieved" to be free and hoped to return "soon" to his slot on BBC Radio 3.

He added: "I just want to go home, have some peace and quiet and do some fishing."

Kershaw appeared to have found lifestyle when he set up home on the island he fell in love with as a 15-year-old boy.

He and Miss Banner moved to a nine-bedroom seafront villa in Peel with their children, and fitted out part of the three-storey property as a recording studio.

The DJ so enjoyed his new life away from London that he enlisted as a crewman on the Peel lifeboat, whose station lies directly across the bay from his home.

But behind closed doors the relationship between him and Miss Banner was beginning to disintegrate.

She eventually left him and took the children to live a short distance away with her new lover, Jim Imrie, a prison officer.

Kershaw was made the subject of a restraining order on August 1, but broke it four weeks later.

The court heard how on August 29 he sent Miss Banner two abusive text messages and left in her garden a selection of pictures, CDs and DVDs she had left at the family home.

Later, he placed a pair of his own distinctive red sneakers on her doorstep.

Shortly after 10.30pm that night Miss Banner rang police to say the DJ had tried to force his way through her front door.

During the incident Kershaw shouted insults at Mr Imrie and was goading him "to come outside like a man."

Insp Richard Power, prosecuting, told the court Miss Banner was frightened of what might happen and in "absolute despair" about Kershaw’s treatment towards her, her children and her boyfriend.

Nigel Cordwell, defending, described the DJ as "one of the most influential broadcasters of his generation" and handed the court a dozen "glowing" testimonials from islanders who had come to know him.

Kershaw, he said, had been "heartbroken" both by Miss Banner’s decision to leave him and her continuing refusal to allow him any contact with their children.

He had been "genuinely surprised" to give a positive breath test when pulled over for drink-driving on September 13.

One factor that may have led to him giving a reading of 57 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath was the considerable weight loss he had suffered through stress.

He was now seeing both a psychiatrist and staff at the island’s alcohol advisory service.

In addition to his ban Kershaw was fined £750 for drink-driving and ordered to pay £155.90 costs.