Alarm over Savile raised in 1998

THE Whitehall committee that recommends people for knighthoods received anonymous allegations of child sexual abuse against Jimmy Savile in 1998, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Civil servants were wary about Savile’s activities as far back as 1984, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was told. The inquiry saw letters between the then-head of the Honours Committee and Margaret Thatcher’s secretary resisting calls for Savile to be knighted despite pressure from the Prime Minister.

In 1998, the Honours Committee received an anonymous letter referring to ‘reports of a paedophilia nature’ that could emerge about Savile. Giving evidence to the inquiry, Helen MacNamara – who heads the Honours and Appointments Secretariat – said such a letter would now immediately be passed to the police. Savile, who died in 2011, was knighted in 1991.