Woman judge who will lead BBC’S Savile review
THE judge who led the inquiry into mass murderer Harold Shipman is to head a BBC review into the Jimmy Savile scandal. Dame Janet Smith will speak to the star’s victims and explore whether the ‘culture and practices’ at the broadcaster ‘enabled the sexual abuse of children to continue unchecked’.
Former Sky News chief Nick Pollard has been appointed separately to investigate the decision to drop a Newsnight investigation into Savile and to see if ‘inappropriate managerial pressure’ was applied.
A third independent review will look into sexual harassment claims which have surfaced in recent weeks.
The Smith Review will see Dame Janet investigate how much other staff knew of Savile’s predatory behaviour and speak to those who claimed to have raised con- cerns within the BBC at the time.
She will then consider whether the corporation’s current child protection and whistle-blowing policies are ‘fit for purpose’ and what lessons need to be learned.
The Pollard Review will establish whether there were any failings in the BBC’s management of the Newsnight investigation, and will consider whether the scheduled broadcasts of tributes to the dead presenter had any impact on the decision to drop the BBC2 probe.
It will also look at how the broadcaster handled material ‘derived from the investigation’ which could have been of interest to police.
Announcing the inquiries, the BBC’s senior independent director, Dame Fiona Reynolds, said: ‘These reviews will demonstrate the BBC’s determination to open itself fully to scrutiny from independent experts, emphasising our belief that the basis of the public’s trust is full openness and accountability.’
Dame Janet, 71, previously led the multi-million pound Shipman Inquiry, which examined the activities of the Manchester GP who was convicted of killing 15 elderly patients and suspected of murdering hundreds more.
News of the BBC’s inquiries came as ministers said they may order a full independent inquiry into the scandal. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told MPs there was ‘certainly a case for an inquiry’ into the ‘deeply shocking and troubling revelations’. A senior Tory MP added that the BBC’s new director-general, George Entwistle, had questions to answer about why he commissioned tributes to Savile at a time when serious allegations about his conduct were being investigated by Newsnight.
John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture, media and sport committee which will quiz Mr Entwistle about the scandal next week, described his apparent lack of curiosity about Newsnight’s findings as ‘very surprising’.
‘You would expect that if he was told that Newsnight was looking at Jimmy Savile that he would have
‘Dark side of the cult of celebrity’
asked what it was about in order to avoid precisely the kind of embarrassment the BBC is now in,’ he said.
‘If it was shown that he was aware, particularly when he has told a press conference that he wasn’t, then I think that would put him in a very difficult position.’
MPs will also question Mr Entwistle about the BBC’s decision to shelve the Newsnight investigation.
Mr Clegg said a wide-ranging police investigation should take precedence – but suggested a wider inquiry may also be needed if a series of internal BBC reviews fail to quell public disquiet about the scandal. ‘I constantly ask myself how on earth is this possible on such a scale over such a long period of time in so many different settings,’ he said.
‘It is in many ways the sort of thing, the dark side of the cult of celebrity which maybe intimidated people from speaking out earlier.’
Mr Clegg’s intervention came as MPs, including Labour leader Ed Miliband, warned that the BBC could not be left to investigate claims that senior managers turned a blind eye to allegations that Savile was abusing young women and children, sometimes on BBC property.
Tory MP Philip Davies, a fellow member of the Commons culture committee, last night urged the media watchdog Ofcom to investigate whether the BBC remained a ‘fit and proper organisation to hold a broadcasting licence’ in the light of the allegations.
In a letter to Ofcom’s chief executive Ed Richards, he said it was ‘inconceivable that nobody in senior positions [at the BBC] was aware of the allegations surrounding Savile or other inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour’.
Labour’s Harriet Harman will meet Mr Entwistle today to warn him that any inquiries into the scandal must look at the role played by managers and presenters, and must consider whether rules on sexual harassment are tough enough to prevent a repeat.