The BBC-Jimmy Savile sex scandal rages on as the total number of girls abused by the late DJ and TV show host has risen to 300. The number was thought to be at around 200 when London police launched a formal investigation into claims Saville had been abusing young girls since the 1950s.
Meanwhile, the commander in charge of the investigation, Comm. Peter Spindler of Scotland Yard, said his officers were “preparing an arrest strategy” for possible enablers.
London police have so far spoken to 130 potential victims, Spindler said, added that, “Some of the victims just want to tell us what happened and leave it at that.” According to cops, there are reports of Savile acting alone and others of him acting with accomplices.
The police in London are under scrutiny from the media and the public over claims that Savile was not properly investigated when claims were first made. A woman made contact with an officer in 2003 to make a complaint against the BBC DJ but did not ask for an investigation to be opened, a retired detective has also come forward to say that complaints were also made in the 1980s. Other officers have come forward from four different districts saying they had previously investigated Savile.
Police outside of London, in Surrey, England, had been investigating claims that in the 1970s, Savile abused a girl in a children’s home. The investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence in 2009.
Meanwhile the BBC’s flagship news program, Newsnight, is undergoing investigation through government hearings over claims they suppressed the broadcasting of a damning documentary on Saville. The show’s editor, Peter Rippon, has already resigned his position. One of the reporters working on the documentary said of Rippon in an internal email:
Having commissioned the story, Peter Rippon, keeps saying he’s lukewarm about it and trying to kill it by making impossible editorial demands. When we rebut his points, he resorts to saying: “Well, it was 40 years ago…..the girls were teenagers, not too young….they weren’t the worst king of sexual offenses etc.” He hasn’t warned BBC1 about the story, so they’re beavering away on the [tribute show to Savile], oblivious”.
The man slated take over as Chief Executive of the New York Times, Mark Thompson, has been cleared of any involvement in the suppressing of the documentary. Thompson was working as the BBC Director-General at the time that the documentary was due to be aired. The Times’ chairman, Arthur Sulzberger Jr, said of Thompson:
[he] possesses high ethical standards and is the ideal person to lead our company.
A full damning documentary was eventually broadcast by BBC’s rival Independent Television in the UK which you can watch here: