Veteran BBC DJ Andy Kershaw behind bars over love split

The Radio 3 presenter, renowned as a champion of world music, was arrested after it was reported that he breached a restraining order banning him from contacting his former partner Juliette Banner.

He was allegedly seen approaching her home in Peel on the Isle of Man on Wednesday, apparently hoping to try for a reconciliation.

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The 48-year-old appeared before the island's Deputy High Bailiff Alistair Montgomery in court in Douglas the following day.

Kershaw was refused bail and remanded in custody until Tuesday when he is due to appear before the Deputy High Bailiff again.

He has not presented his Monday night world music show on Radio 3 since May.

A friend said he had been given time off by the BBC after falling ill. "Andy basically had some personal problems," the friend said.

"He was ill with worry over Juliette and the children and he asked the BBC if he could take some time to sort things out.

"It's desperately sad. I think he hoped it would sort itself out over the summer, but that obviously hasn't happened."

Last year the DJ moved with Juliette and their children Sonny, nine, and Dolly, eight, to Peel from North London, where Miss Banner owns a restaurant.

A neighbour said: "Andy has never been seen without a pint in one hand and a cigarette in the other and we have heard that Juliette has simply finished with him.

"As soon as it was known he was on his way to her hideaway house the police were called straight away. Juliette will not stand for any nonsense."

Rochdale-born Kershaw - one of legendary DJ John Peel's best friends - was given his first job as a broadcaster after a Radio 1 producer spotted him while he was working as a roadie for singer Billy Bragg.

He worked for Radio 1 for 15 years, presenting a Sunday night show featuring African soukous music, reggae, country, blues, folk and Asian music.

He was sacked in 2000 to make way for a dance music show, but was given a job a few months later by Radio 3 controller Roger Wright, who told him that what he liked about his Radio 1 programme was that he never knew what was coming next.

A BBC spokesman said last night: "It's a personal matter and we don't comment on those."

Kershaw studied politics at Leeds University in the hope of becoming a journalist but failed to graduate after running the students' union concerts for two years.

He has filed reports for Radio 4 as a foreign correspondent while scouting for new music.

In 1994 he made a memorable report from Rwanda during the genocide and on the 1995 volcanic eruption in Montserrat where he had taken Juliette for 'a quiet Caribbean holiday'. And he gave a heartfelt tribute to her when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in March this year.

He also made the first TV documentary filmed in North Korea by foreigners, for Channel 4 in 1995.

Kershaw said in an interview: 'The people there have had so little contact with the outside world, they actually believe that we all live like them.'

The country is 'so bizarre, it's psychedelic', he said.

'It is the most alien place I've ever been.'