This is the fourth installment of Bill Donohue’s report on the BBC sexual abuse scandal and its implications for the New York Times:
Here is what MailOnline said last week about the victims of the late BBC entertainer Jimmy Savile: “The picture they paint is of a ‘classic’ child abuser, targeting vulnerable youngsters at schools, hospitals and children’s homes….He plied them with treats—under the noses of teachers, doctors and BBC managers—and took them for rides in his Rolls-Royce….Savile sexually abused them in his car, his BBC dressing room, on hospital wards and in the bedrooms of girls at Duncroft boarding school in Surrey.” Former BBC chief Mark Thompson, who will soon head the New York Times Company, says it’s all news to him.
Some of those who got to know Savile the best saw him as a Michael Jackson-type predator. Janet Cope worked for him for 32 years and here is how she describes him today: “He was like Peter Pan, forever surrounding himself with youngsters.” Acting like the “classic child abuser” that he was, Savile sought out the most vulnerable young people to exploit. For example, just this week, a disabled female actress, Julie Fernandez, confessed that she was groped by him when she was 14.
The more dysfunctional the youngster, the more attractive they were to Savile. Two days ago it was reported that he preyed on kids at an institution for emotionally disturbed girls; at least five former pupils from Duncroft have come forth to tell what happened. As one of them said, “Jimmy treated Duncroft like a paedophile sweet shop.” So why didn’t they report him? “The girls at Duncroft had been sent there by the courts for prostitution, drugs and because they tried to kill themselves,” Toni Townsend said. “Who would have believed us against Saint Jimmy?”
Savile’s predatory behavior extends back decades. English folk legend Meic Stevens revealed this week that in the 1960s, “It was well known in the music business that he [Savile] was like that, that he liked to mess around with underage girls.” Savile was also generous with his victims: Stevens was offered underage girls to abuse in the back seat of his Rolls-Royce. More to come next week
