A widespread fear of whistleblowing among BBC staff allowed disgraced presenter
Jimmy Savile
to abuse girls and boys “in virtually every corner” of the
broadcaster’s premises without senior management being aware, a leaked
draft report says.
Dame Janet Smith, who led the review into Savile’s sexual misconduct
at the BBC, said in the early version of her report that a reluctance to
complain to senior management among
BBC staff that existed in the 1970s and 1980s still remains today.
As a result there is no evidence that any report of abuse “reached
the ears or the desk” of senior staff – despite more than 100
individuals, including BBC workers, coming forward with tales of
Savile’s abuse.
But Liz Dux, a lawyer at Slater and Gordon who represents 168
of Savile’s victims, found this conclusion was “not credible”, telling
the Guardian: “It beggars belief that given what was going onand with so
many witnesses giving evidence to her of their suspicions and
knowledge, 107 in total, that for her to conclude a lack of knowledge on
the part of management and an acceptance of their inability to stop him
I don’t find is credible. I can’t accept that on behalf of my clients.”
In the 53-page report, Smith also appears to excuse one producer for
failing to flag concerns about Savile to avoid “painful consequences” of
tackling such issues because he was a “creature of his time”.
Smith says producer missed several warnings that Savile was a threat,
such as an incident when he heard Savile shout “Legal! Legal!” when
hearing that a young girl was aged 16 and observed inappropriate conduct
with staff, such as hand and arm licking.
However, Smith steps back from admonishing the producer because
“tackling such issues would have been very painful” as senior management
put great stock in the show’s rating.
Among the rumours heard by the review were claims Savile was a
paedophile, a necrophiliac, abused disabled people and took girls to his
caravan to abuse them. However, none of the witnesses reported it to
BBC management.
Some 45 victims gave evidence of “inappropriate physical sexual
conduct” by Savile, including a woman who was nine at the time. Most of
the women were over 16 when they were sexually assaulted by the DJ, the
draft report says, but all the boys except one were under that age.
Incidents took place “in virtually every corner of the BBC premises”
where Savile worked, according to the draft report, but all except one
of the rapes and attempted rapes took place at the DJ’s own flat or
caravan.
The very first victim who gave evidence to the review, known only as
C1, described how she was aged 15 and doing work experience in the BBC’s
Broadcasting House canteen when she met Savile in 1986.
The DJ asked her if she would have a cup of tea with him when she
finished her work. When she agreed, he took her to his flat at 22 Park
Crescent and raped her, the review says.
When his star was rising in the early to mid-70s, Savile had a group
of teenage fans – whom he called his “team” or “London team” – whom he
would meet outside BBC studios and take back to his flat for sex.
The
report describes how one of the girls, called Angie, first met Savile
in 1968 when she was 15 and he was 42. He raped her, telling her
afterwards that she was not a virgin any more, it says.
Six years later, Savile gave Angie a signed copy of his autobiography
As It Happens with the inscription: “[Angie’s name] of the Team. No
Escape. Belongs to Jimmy Savile her keeper”.
The report includes examples where BBC employees allegedly advised
Savile’s victims not to report their assaults. On one occasion, in 1970,
a 19-year-old BBC Leeds worker was raped by Savile in his camper van
outside King’s Cross train station in London after going for a drink
with two colleagues.
The woman, named C5, told her colleagues what had happened and they
were “sympathetic but advised her not to make any formal report”, the
draft report says. Both colleagues are now dead and were not interviewed
by the Smith review team.
Smith said there were a number of “wake up calls” that sexual
misconduct was taking place at the Top of the Pops studios but this was
ignored by the BBC.
The first, in 1969, was related to Top of the Pops photographer Harry
Goodwin, now deceased, who allegedly took pornographic photos of
teenage girls in his dressing room.
The next wake-up call in 1971 related to the death of Claire
McAlpine, a teenager who committed suicide shortly after claiming she
was assaulted by an unnamed BBC DJ.
An assistant floor manager on Top of the Pops from about 1969 to 1971
told the review that the show was “an extraordinary mixture of sleaze
and innocence”. Another said Savile’s dressing room always seemed full
of “kids”.
But Smith says she does not believe senior management was made aware
of Savile’s abuse. “In the testosterone-laden atmosphere, where everyone
was, in theory at least, over the age of 16, child protection was
simply not a live issue,” she says. “No one noticed what Savile was
doing; he was able to hide in plain sight.”
Smith also said: “There is still a widespread reluctance to complain
about anything” at the BBC for fear of their positions. “It was
explained to me that, in one respect, the position is even worse today
than it was years ago in that so many people are now employed on
short-term contracts or on a freelance basis, with little or no job
security,” she said.
Following on from this, it was Smith’s view that it is possible that
“predatory child abuser could be lurking undiscovered in the BBC even
today”. Following the leak, Smith released a statement describing the
version of the report as “out of date” and said significant changes had
been made to the final report, due to be released in six weeks’ time.
Tony Hall, director general of the BBC, said the child abuse scandal
was a “dark chapter in the history of the BBC” and vowed to make sure
nothing like it happens again.
In her final afterword, Smith insists no senior staff could have been made aware of Savile’s misconduct.
“There is no evidence that any report of physical sexual misconduct
or inappropriate behaviour ever reached the ears or the desk of a senior
producer or an executive producer let alone a head of department or
other senior executive.”
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