Jimmy Savile abuse allegations

[Pudding Crawl]

Sunday Express today leads with a shiny new Satanic ritual abuse angle.

ETA: The source, Valerie Sinason, has form re. SCA allegations, including cannibalism.

[Richard W]

Good God, it's the 1980s all over again. I thought we were trying to get away from those days...

There have been a couple of opinion pieces in The Guardian about the arrest of Jim Davidson - which is apparently completely unrelated to either Jimmy Savile or to child abuse - that also sum up some of my feelings:

Victoria Coren:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...standup-comedy

In passing: what exactly is the remit of "Operation Yewtree"? It was set up to deal with allegations against Jimmy Savile. Then they started arresting other famous people, not all of whom even knew Savile but we assumed (in some cases, wrongly) that they were accused of similar things. Now it's Jim Davidson, with allegations from 25 years ago that the police say are "not directly linked to Savile" and apparently involve complainants who were in their mid-20s at the time of the alleged events.

So: no Savile and no child abuse. Why is Operation Yewtree in charge, then? Who are they, the Celebrity Crime Unit?

Roy Greenslade:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/gree...nal-newspapers

Then there is the specific matter of the catch-all term "Savile cops." Should the police not have created a separate squad/operation to consider historic sexual abuse allegations that are not child-related?

This is not to suggest that complaints by adults are not serious. But surely they are in a different category to those involving children.

I also remain unconvinced that a formal arrest is really necessary in every case. Is there not a way of questioning people under caution without calling it an arrest? The answer, of course, is that it can be done and is done. The police take statements from people all the time without arresting them.

[Sue]

Originally Posted by Richard W

Good God, it's the 1980s all over again. I thought we were trying to get away from those days...

I didn't realize the witch hunts had happened in the UK as well. Scary times.

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Richard W

There have been a couple of opinion pieces in The Guardian about the arrest of Jim Davidson - which is apparently completely unrelated to either Jimmy Savile or to child abuse - that also sum up some of my feelings

I'm not unsympathetic to that view, but Saville's victims were not all children either. If people (of any age) are now willing to come forward with such serious accusations, then the police should investigate. They could perhaps make it clearer why they have arrested people, but I'd assume it's fairly standard practice for the police who dealt with the initial accusation to follow up on it.

[Embra]

CBeebies has apologised after a character from the children's TV programme The Tweenies appeared dressed as disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile.

The episode, which was filmed in 2001, was shown on the BBC before 0900 GMT.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21108337

[Moku]

Rolf Harris now arrested on suspicion of, historic, sexual offences. This is from the strand of the enquiry termed 'others', hence not related to Savile's offences.

Can I have my childhood back please?

[Floater]

That explains Jake the Peg.

[Andrew of Ware]

Another high profile person has been charged with sexual offences. He is Max Clifford, the PR Agent. Not sure how well he is known outside the UK, but he is a well-known, and hated by many, figure.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22313286

[Richard W]

You say "another" person has been charged, but unless I'm imagining things, isn't he one of the few people arrested to have actually been charged? I read about his arrest a while ago.

Still, at least he will know how best to present his own side of events...

[BringTheNoise]

From Wikipedia, Clifford appears to be the second person formally charged. However, a number of people arrested were released on police bail, so it would appear that the investigations on them are continuing.