Of course the BBC knew what Savile was up to, it was live on TV says victim
A WOMAN groped live on Top Of The Pops by Jimmy Savile has attacked the ‘whitewash’ official inquiry absolving BBC bosses of any blame.
Sylvia Edwards, now 58, said: ‘Of course the BBC knew what Savile was doing. In my case it’s even on video, for God’s sake.’
Footage of the show, in 1976, shows 18-year-old Miss Edwards squirming in distress as Savile shoves his hand up her skirt live on air and tries to fondle her bottom. Millions watched as guffawing Savile, then aged 50, leered: ‘I tell you something, a fella could get used to this.’
Yesterday Miss Edwards joined a chorus of incredulity at Dame Janet Smith’s £10million review into Savile’s decades-long reign of abuse at the BBC.
A leaked draft of the report says no senior boss ‘ heard or knew’ of the DJ’s darker side.
Miss Edwards, a mother-of-two who gave evidence to Dame Janet, said she felt let down by the report.
‘It makes you feel the whole thing was a waste of time and money. She’s ignored everything I said,’ she told The Sun. ‘Any adult watching that would know something wasn’t right. Don’t tell me senior managers weren’t watching t he show, and I reported it straight after.’
She said anyone who watched her on-air struggle with the pervert could not fail to be aware what he was capable of.
In the video of the show, aired on November 25, 1976, Miss Edwards can be seen next to Savile as the DJ, surrounded by teenage girls, announces the next song. As he calmly talks into the camera, she screams and twists and turns as he grabs her out of view. Savile, who died in 2011 without being brought to justice for this crimes, apparently passed youngsters round other paedophiles at the BBC, Dame Janet found.
He took one boy from the set of Jim’ll Fix It to a dressing room and abused him as another man came into the room.
And a girl of nine was brought to the BBC by a ‘man named Sillitoe’ who passed her round for abuse by men including Savile.
The presenter’s long-term producer Roger Ordish witnessed numerous danger signs but Dame Janet let him off any criti- cism, saying Mr Ordish was ‘ a creature of his time’ and did not have the benefit of hindsight.
Another BBC executive, Nick Vaughan-Barratt, had warned that Savile was ‘flawed’. But after interviewing him about why he said this, Dame Janet said he was ‘plainly not going to tell me’.
In total, 107 witnesses including stars such as Sir Terry Wogan and Dame Esther Rantzen said vile rumours about Savile being a paedophile and a necrophiliac were widespread.
But Dame Janet accepted denials from BBC chiefs who said they had never heard them.
However, she did criticise the corporation for having managers who were ‘ above the law’. She said they spent their days drunk and created a culture where it was almost impossible for victims to complain.
The BBC was condemned for having a ‘deferential culture’ and ‘untouchable’ stars. Dame Janet also warned that it is possible another ‘predatory child abuser could be lurking undiscovered in the BBC even today’.
Liz Dux, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon who represents 168 Savile victims, said the report was ‘not credible’ and it ‘beggars belief ’ that no bosses were aware of Savile’s depravity.
‘Bosses must have seen it’