Savile: Portrait of a Predator

My abiding memory is the particular account

that was in a statement that I read, of what had been a little boy.

He described what happened when Savile would come round.

If the kids were playing in the street,

they would just all bomb burst

because they'd been told by the mothers,

if the Roller turns up, you come in straightaway.

And this lad had been caught out and he was terrified, he was frightened,

he'd run and hidden.

He then gets this whiff of cigar smoke

and realises that he's been seen.

There was just something about how clearly the fear was still present

in what was a middle-aged man.

It was the fear that was instilled by the anticipation

of what could happen.

And what did happen? He was raped.

'In 2011,

'thousands of fans mourned the loss of Sir jimmy Savile,

'who was once celebrated in footage like this

'as one of Britain's biggest stars.

'Just months later,

'exposed as one of the UK's most prolific sex offenders,

'his memorial stone was removed.

'He now lies buried in an unmarked grave.

'But a decade on, how much do we know about what Savile really was?'

In my opinion, Savile was a high-functioning psychopath

and having dealt with hundreds of sexual offenders during my career,

he was definitely one of the most dangerous

and prolific offenders I'd ever come across.

Attacked from the off here. Goodness gracious.

Welcome indeed to Top Of The Pops. I've got a hat on my head...

I first went to Top Of The Pops when I was about 14 and a half.

And when we were all just talking and laughing,

he suddenly, jimmy Savile, started to put his hand up my dress.

He'd strut around with his heavies

and just, nose in the air, looking like the king.

He was menacing. He could do anything he wanted.

'How did Savile persuade those who should have known better

'to give him their seal of approval?

'To allow him to use his TV appearances

'to further court the establishment.'

Hello, welcome.

'And even to make him the face of child protection.

'And the closer he got to power, the more untouchable he became.'

He could get into parties at Buckingham Palace,

he could wander at will around St James’s Palace,

where Charles had his office.

And he would walk in and drift around Diana's apartment

to come and see her.

So, I mean, he clearly had easy access.

'Analysing his many TV appearances

'and using new testimony from victims, witnesses

'and a leading detective who investigated Savile after his death,

'this film examines the strategies he used

'throughout his career of abuse.'

Everybody thinks they know the story

because they are now aware of his offending,

but the reality is that he was an abuser first and a celebrity second.

By understanding how he could get into so many organisations,

how he could operate in so many different environments

and still get away with it,

that's the story that needs to be... told.

'This afternoon,

'just how seriously the police are taking claims of abuse

'at the hands of jimmy Savile came into sharp...

'Abuse on an almost industrial scale.'

'Now the Metropolitan police say that it will now take the lead

'in investigating sex abuse allegations...'

'In 2012, a Metropolitan police unit was set up in East London

'to investigate Savile's crimes

'following claims made in an ITV documentary after his death.

'Detectives were inundated

'with harrowing new allegations from the start.'

In the early weeks, it was really quite overwhelming.

It was incredibly shocking,

and it just continued on, day after day after day.

'Gradually, Gary and his team

'began to piece together a picture of how Savile had operated.

'Although celebrated for his voluntary work

'and the flattering TV coverage that went with it,

'detectives began to uncover a more sinister side

'to his apparent altruism.'

You just need to look at every decision and move that he made

and look at it through the fact that it was motivated

to give him the opportunity to offend.

'A former miner,

'Savile's professional career took off when he Dj'd

'in the dance halls of Manchester and Leeds in the 1950s.'

Where are you going to find young girls?

They were all going to the social dances at the dance halls.

So the first place he goes is there.

He gets his job there, that's his first career.

'Savile carefully controlled which girls were admitted to his dances

'and took advantage of them later.'

I was born and brought up near Leeds,

and jimmy Savile was well known as a club organiser, MC,

front of house manager.

I heard stories about how he very much controlled who was let in

and who wasn't let in to his clubs.

And in hindsight, I wondered if that's when it all started.

'To help him deal with potential troublemakers,

'Savile also deliberately courted local criminals.

'One was Bill Benny, a feared Manchester hardman.'

I think Savile's time in the clubs in the '50s and '60s

and his association with Bill Benny was really like an apprenticeship.

He was a student, without a doubt.

'Savile later recalled how he once ordered his doormen

'to make an example of one nuisance.

'He reminisced, "They went outside and kicked his head in.

' "They left him lying there concussed.

' "When I ran a dance hall, I ruled it with a rod of iron.

He was learning a lot of important lessons

in terms of control and coercion

in order to hone and refine his ability to exploit weakness.

This would put him in good stead for his next step.

'The popularity of Savile's dance hall sessions

'led to him being offered a show on Radio Luxembourg in 1958.

'His high-rating radio show caught the attention of producers

'at the biggest broadcaster of all.'

I think the BBC in the 60s

could suddenly see youth culture coming along, The Beatles,

pop music, and they didn't have any way of dealing with that.

They needed an intermediary.

And jimmy Savile became that intermediary.

APPLAUSE

Very good, very good, very good, very good.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome indeed to Top Of The Pops.

How are you this evening?

'Excited by his appeal,

'the BBC unleashed Savile on a young TV audience,

'unwittingly starting a pattern of offending

'which would last for decades.'

His professional career went hand in hand with his criminal career.

And particularly with Top Of The Pops,

because there was very ready and regular access

to young people there, and in a way that appears to have been,

if I was being generous, say, lightly regulated.

'By the '70s, Top Of The Pops was achieving audiences

'of up to 15 million.'

Lots of nice young ladies about with us this evening

and lots of nice records we've got...

'Savile was seen as crucial to the series' success,

'and he knew it.'

What's the name of the group?

'Ian Hampton played bass with the band Sparks,

'who, with their distinctive performances,

'appeared 15 times on the show in the mid—'70s.

'Hampton, speaking here for the first time,

'saw a more sinister side to Savile behind the jokey TV facade.'

jimmy Savile would actually be there

when he wasn't even Djing or introducing people.

He'd strut around with his heavies and just, nose in the air,

looking like the king.

He was menacing. He was always menacing.

He could do anything he wanted.

'At times, Savile treated Top Of The Pops

'as if it was one of his old nightclubs.'

I think he regarded Top Of The Pops as a happy hunting ground.

Hunting ground for?

Young ladies.

I'm not quite sure. Let's have a look at your muscles.

Yeah, I'll tell you what, meanwhile...

On one occasion, I was on Top Of The pops,

Savile disappeared with a young girl to a dressing room.

A few minutes later, she returned looking absolutely shaken.

After I saw this, I went to the producer on the night

and I said to him "What's going on with Savile?"

And he shrugged me off.

He said, "Don't be ridiculous." And that was it,

that was the response I got from the producer

and a couple of other Djs.

What, you mentioned it to other Djs? Yeah.

And what did they say? They shrugged it off as well.

I think they were in awe of Savile, or in terror.

He was a very threatening person.

'Savile also exerted his influence in more subtle ways.'

I'm gonna tell you a secret. The cameraman taking my picture now,

when he's not taking pictures for transmission,

he focuses on young ladies' legs and has a private view all of his own.

Isn't that naughty? He had normalised abnormal behaviour

to the point where it wasn't considered a problem,

that it wasn't considered important.

And this is part of the grooming of the environment.

'Savile was becoming confident enough to abuse openly.'

We were all ushered in

and then I saw jimmy Savile coming out.

And all of a sudden, I saw him pointing to me.

But they made me sit on this step.

I couldn't even jump down at the edge because it was too high.

And good evening, ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to Top Of The Pops.

And all of a sudden, jimmy Savile turned up. He didn't say anything.

He just, I could feel somebody moving their hands towards me

and I moved out of the way,

but all of a sudden, it seemed to just go underneath my...

underneath me and started fiddling.

And I was... That was it.

I got a shock and I tried to jump up and move out of the way.

I'll tell you something... SHE SCREAMS

a fella could get used to all this, as it happens.