BBC probes sex abuse claims against former host

LONDON— The BBC is struggling to contain a crisis sparked by allegations of serial sexual abuse against the late Jimmy Savile, a longtime children’s television host.

Dozens of women have come forward to say that Savile, who died in October 2011 at age 84, sexually assaulted them when they were as young as 13. London’sMetropolitan Police, which is leading a national investigation, says it has identified 40 potential victims.

The publicly funded national broadcaster is facing questions about its failure to stop Savile’s predatory behavior, which was an open secret in showbiz circles during his heyday several decades ago.

BBC Director- General George Entwistle announced late Friday that the broadcaster would hold an inquiry into the “culture and practices of the BBC during the years Jimmy Savile worked here.”

“It will examine whether that culture and those practices allowed him or others to carry out the sexual abuse of children,” said Entwistle, promising a “forensic but also soulsearching examination.”

Some assaults are alleged to have taken place on BBC premises, others at hospitals and schools Savile visited as part of his charity fundraising.

“As the directorgeneral of the BBC I have made clearmy revulsion at the thought that these criminal assaults were carried out by someone employed by the BBC, and that some may have happened on BBC premises as well as, we now discover, in hospitals and other institutions across the U. K.,” Entwistle told a news conference.