Savile mannequin put in place of Colston statue
ADEPICTION of notorious paedophile Jimmy Savile has been placed on the plinth left vacant by the fall of slave trader Edward Colston’s statue.
The person responsible for the new ‘statue’ remains unknown.
After the mannaquin appeared to have been removed, a video emerged showing it had fallen from the plinth.
Last month Colston’s statue was toppled and dumped into the floating harbour at the end of a Black Lives Matter protest.
Since then, leaders have debated what should stand on the empty plinth and lots of petitions with suggestions have been launched on Change.org.
One of the most popular was for a statue of Bristol hero Paul Stephenson OBE to be put up in its place.
But on Saturday a mannequin dressed in the style of sexual predator Savile, complete with a blonde wig, appeared on the plinth in the city centre.
Placed at the bottom of the sculpture is a sign which reads: “None of them stopped me, and your licence paid for it.
“The BBC turning a blind eye since 1922.”
It is believed to be a comment on the withdrawal of the free TV licence for some over-75s.
The Top of the Pops and Jim’ll Fix It presenter was awarded an
OBE and was never held accountable for his crimes.
Less than a year after his death, an ITV documentary was the first to report his sexual abuse of children. Police then launched an investigation identifying 300 victims who were assaulted over six decades.
On June 7 thousands took to the streets in Bristol to protest for the Black Lives Matter cause, to show solidarity for protests over the death of George Floyd in the
US and in support of anti-racism reform.
During the protest the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down and thrown into the harbour.
On July 11 the council lifted the bronze statue out of the water and is now preparing it to put on display in a museum.
Meanwhile, police have arrested one person for criminal damage and are still hunting for other suspects.