Surely that’s the problem, who would want to defend someone from those accusations, when they cant even defend themselves?
Maybe he did these things, maybe he didn’t, in reality we are no closer to finding out we simply have some public, mostly anonymous accusations.

You see what you've done there is to go and try to find some evidence to back up your suspicions but in the event have just found some salacious gossip which does nothing of the sort - have a read of those two reports and tell me where the evidence is that any of the girls mentioned were under the age of 16 ?

Am I surprised that a person in the position that Savile found himself in took advantage of the hordes of young girls who would be willing to spend some time with him with or without intimacy - no I am not, not at all.

Do I think that he ever stopped to ask any of them how old they were, no I think in the balance of probability he probably didn't do that very often.

Am I judging him by the moral standards of 2012, no I am not, and I am not jumping on a bandwagon of accusation and supposition based on salacious gossip and text from his own biography that only tells us what we already knew - those who were associated with the pop music industry in the 1960s and 70s had their pick of dozens of young girls every night of the week and in the context of the time they were considered "available" if they were in the queue.

You might not like that attitude but I, and anyone who lived through that period, will confirm it to be true.


And I bet the likes of JLS and One Direction are sweating a bit now too ...

I remember that as well.

The "attractive girl from a remand home" would be under 16, surely, otherwise she wouldn't be in a remand home.

I am in no doubt that Jimmy Savile and many others will have taken advantage of what was on offer during the sex drugs and rock and roll era of that time.

The difference between him and many of his contemporaries both on TOTP and the wider music scene is that he was clearly an odd one out..older, wealthy, single, living with is mother in his 50`s, and a very eccentric persona.

I repeat if people like Rantzen and Gambaccini had clear suspicions and even evidence and did nothing then then they ought to take a long look at themselves first.

i wonder how much these people were paid to go on the program

Could have been 16 years old.

The police didn't seem that bothered, again thats another sign of those times, and brutality and sexual abuse were commonplace in such establishments (apparently) with both boys and girls being vulnerable, I can well believe that she may have been under age and I can well believe that the police would turn a blind eye to what is alleged to have happened.

The 1970s were great times to be growing up in your teens and 20s but attitudes to sex, ethnicity, disability, age, were a million miles away from what they are now, it may have been illegal but it was hardly ever prosecuted.

He was investigated by the police under caution on those two allegations and no charges were made due to insufficient evidence.

Oh I agree wholeheartedly - Savile is unable to defend himself and it looks like it's open season on Jimmy's reputation at the moment.

But the inverse is also just as applicable - should the crimes of the deceased be ignored simply because they are dead?

What crimes??? So far I have only read hearsay rumours and heard uncorroborated allegations. No actual evidence.

Do we ignore the serious allegations? NO but we must establish the facts first by due process.

Trial by media is not acceptable.

Apparently there is a 3 year statute of limitations on claims for assault and it is apparently not possible to prosecute the dead but you can slander them and libel them with impunity.

No, but you have to be able to prove that those crimes took place and proof and conviction do not usually only come from one source - add to that the fact that crimes of a sexual nature are always among the most difficult to obtain a conviction from even when both parties are still alive, even when DNA evidence is there, its often one word against the other.


Linda Bellingham gave a good description of attitudes in the 1970s this morning on Radio Leeds, the fact that as a young actress working in TV and theatre it was expected that you'd be groped, touched inapproriately, have your backside slapped and pinched and have all sorts of insinuations made on a daily basis and that the joke would always be on the female especially if she objected - she wasn't at all surprised that these allegations are being made, just rather shocked that those who claim that this was common knowledge have kept so quiet for so long.

This refers to a different incident, detailed in Savile's autobiography. One where, as he himself said, the police turned a blind eye because he'd "take half the station down with him".

I have nothing against a fair hearing, by the way. But the discussion of these allegations is all part of that.

Not sure how he would now get a fair hearing being deceased.

Given the statute of limitations for cases of assault what are these alleged victims hoping to achieve ???

It cant be claims for compensation has he cant be prosecuted apparently according to legal advice.

It can only be to destroy his reputation then IMO.

Thats another thing that I find remarkable about these stories, Rantzen and Gambacini stayed quiet because they were scared of the power that Savile had at the BBC, the police didn't investigate his treatment of a girl who at the absolute would have been 16, because "he'd take half the police station with him".

Who the hell was he, Don Corleone ?

I can tell you stories of the Leeds Police Force from the mid to late 70s that would make you gasp and laugh at the same time, but I don't consider that I held any sort of sway over them - and some of those stories involve commonplace illegality by very senior officers.

The buggers still threw me in the back of a van one saturday afternoon when one of my mates insisted that I'd shoplifted some Bergasol from Boots the Chemist though (I hadn't ) and no amount of shouting "I saw xxxxxx drive himself home during a shift overlap last Saturday and we had to help him out of the bar into his car" would get me off until they got bored and threw me out near the markets

I was reading "the station" as meaning the BBC as it was often refered to in this manner at that time.

So the inference is that Jimmy Savile would have been able to implicate many others in these alleged abuses, which is not surprising IMO.