Savile: A British Rape Culture

The truth is that the BBC fostered a monster, that much of the media indulged him for many years and that the police, insufficiently curious and doubtless awed by his celebrity, failed to follow up proper lines of inquiry – Stephen Glover

Despite the recent report Giving Victims a Voice that found Jimmy Saville a ‘predatory, serial sex offender’, British society likely will never fully navigate its way to the depth of the BBC’s personality’s harmful activities. It will scrape the surface, burrow down a bit, bring this or that to light, paper over gaps rather than fill them in only to conclude, if it wants to face up to it, that much less will be ultimately uncovered  than actually happened.


Approximately 600 people came forward with information for the investigation of which 450 relate to Savile and most were reports of sexual abuse. There have been 214 formal crime recorded: 126 recorded indecent acts and 34 cases of rape or penetration offences; 73% of Savile's victims were under the age of 18 although victims ranged in age from eight -47. These are the facts as far as we know.

As Louise Pennington observes ‘we will never know exactly how many people were sexually assaulted by Savile. It is safe to say this is only the part of the picture.’

The opportunity to grasp the picture in much greater detail was missed while Savile was still alive. Now that he is dead, the sense of atonement referred to by Stephen Glover for having indulged ‘the ghastly man when he was alive’ seems to give off more heat than light.

Nowhere does this appear more pronounced than in the ranks of the British police.

One journalist questioned him about them in an interview as long ago as 1990, as did another journalist, Louis Theroux, in a TV programme broadcast in 2000. A woman made an allegation of assault in the Eighties (the report admits the police file has been unaccountably mislaid) and there were three separate police investigations from  2007 to 2009 ... If only the police had displayed a fraction of the zeal when Savile was alive that they show now he is dead ... a really thorough investigation of the DJ before he died would surely have resulted in a criminal prosecution.

But it didn’t happen and matters are where they are today as a result. Contrast the behaviour of the British police in relation to Savile with the zeal it cooked up in pursuit of those who committed no offence in Guildford and Woolwich, Birmingham or the M62. It is a moot point just how accurate the comment is by Metropolitan Police commander Peter Spindler that Savile had "groomed the nation". He most certainly groomed the police into doing next to nothing, even boasting that 'he had friends in the police who helped settle allegations against him.'

It is not that Savile’s activities somehow slipped though police fingers. Natasha Walter in her breakdown of statistics compiled by the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics argued that:

They suggest that one in five women in the UK experiences a sexual offence in her adult life and that there are 473,000 victims of sexual offences every year, including 60,000 to 95,000 rapes. Yet all of these rapes lead to just 1,070 convictions ... This is around 70,000 people being raped and nearly 500,000 experiencing sexual offences every year, right here, right now. Yet according to this report, only 15% of sexual offences were even reported to the police, let alone pursued through the criminal justice process.

Rape culture, the existence of which is strongly posited by Walter, is not something that burgeons in far off countries like India. And the British police would seemingly acquiesce in it.

Savile hid out in the open in a society whose police force gazed on him with eyes wide shut.

24 comments:

  1. Anthony a cara,have you seen the post on fb re www.mirror.co.uk.
    Police seize vip list in dawn raid,politicians,mi5 agent,royal aide and pop stars and also on this list is a prominent republican, this could also have been the headlines many years ago when the Kincora abuse scandal broke, there seems to be a very disgustingly well placed /heeled paedophile ring within society here,between the churches and the hooray Henrys and invited guests like Savile ,he was a big church fan and a arse licker of Thatcher was it any wonder the plods were unable to touch him that part of society does not do time remember Lucan,there is definitely a two tier justice system in action here its them and us,and as usual its us that gets fucked and its them that gets away with it .Kincora and the Catholic church scandal is proof of that if needed.

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  2. Marty.

    Thanks for that link a cara, never heard of this case before. But the main question pertaining to it is, "Which Bigwig" stopped the investigation, They have all climbed to the top off the ladder, Now lets see if they all slide down the snake.
    But I wouldn't be surprised if it was some unknown low life's who were actually charged and the Royal workers , MP's , MI5 and the top Republican were never charged. Its the same old scenario, DO AS WE SAY, NOT AS WE DO. Sick fucking scum of the earth bastards.

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  3. So 450 have now come forward with information about Savile after he died-he was no hitler or oliver Cromwell when he was living-he was an old git-why did such a large number wait so long to tell their truth-

    Marty-

    I read that today about that paedo ring which happened in 1988-think i read somewhere that that house was also raided in london in 1982-thatchers men could have kept it quiet untill now-

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  4. Surprisingly for an article carried in the Mirror about a paedophile ring of leading people there has been no mention in the British news.

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  5. Oh and Michaelhenry for someone who seems to read a lot you don't seem to have read too much on our own recent history.

    On the MI5 forum you claimed during the week that Bernadette McAliskey/Devlin took the oath to the crown the day after Bloody Sunday.

    I've read some idiotic statements from clowns on that forum but the above from you takes the biscuit as most intelligent people know that Bernie slapped Reginald Maudling after Bloody Sunday.

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  6. Dixie-

    " most intelligent people know that
    Bernie slapped Reginald Maudling after Bloody Sunday "

    She did indeed the wee vintage vixen that she was-she slapped him after she took the crown oath-

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  7. Why is Esther Rantzen not being pigeon holed.I'm nearly sure she admitted,on television, to having a fair idea what he was up to but remained silent.Albeit like many more.

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  8. Mchael Henry; bernadette did indeed take the oath. Obviously you've read 'The Price of My Soul' where she states very clearly that she did. But the difference with her is that she didn't ride high on an abstention policy.

    In her own words she explained that the title of her book was not about how much she was prepared to sell out for but that in order to gain what is worth having how it's necessary to lose almost everything else. Taking the oath wasn't a big deal to her. It was a load of oul nonsense surrounded by pomp and ceremony. That's all.

    I've seen you post on various sites and blogs for years about this. It's clearly something that sticks in your craw but whether you're aware of this or not, your own party will take the oath sooner or later and you can't delete what you've written on the Internet.

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  9. Jimmy refused to fix it for me when i was 17. i put on my best mini-skirt, boob tupe and make up, got two tube trains and a bus to the BBC studio at sheperds bush and he still wouldn't ride me!

    I WANT COMPENSATION NOW I'M 50.

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  10. Belfast Bookworm I'm certain that the PSF Councillor Michaelhenry/Michael McIvor - he uses his own name on the MI5 spy forum - would run and hide out in the Sperrin Mountains should Bernadette challenge him to a political debate...

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  11. A thought just hit me.

    Michael McIvor debating with Bernadette McAliskey would have a comparable result as say....

    FC Barcelona 23 - Harland and Wolff Welders FC 0 - Match abandoned after 15mins.

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  12. Belfast Bookworm-

    " I've seen you post on various sites and blogs for years about this "

    And in all that time you thought i was AM-

    Dixie-

    I dont think i could beat brave Bernadette 23 to 0- with her luck she would get a fluke goal-


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  13. I for one would pay to watch that slaughtering, I mean debate!

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  14. "And in all that time you thought i was AM-"

    No Michaelhenry. I doubt that Belfast Bookworm would refer to you as Another Moron. That would be just too rude.

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  15. Michael Henry; the penny has only dropped with me today who you actually are. And it was your comments about bernadette that triggered this.

    Irish republican bulletin board, Irish republican.net, slugger, politics.ie - you've been spewing the same vitriol about this woman for years.

    And what's this 'luck' of hers you refer to? Lucky that she escaped an assassination attempt on her life that was not only facilitated but covered up by the Brits? Lucky that she was hounded all her days for opening her gob and speaking out?


    Question: are you claiming councillor expenses and do these cover time spent surfing the net trying to discredit a woman whose boots you are not fit to tie?

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  16. Belfast Bookworm:

    Michael Henry is still fuming as is Adams and Co at Bernadette because she done what they had planned to do from the very beginning and took her seat, It was on her 22nd Birthday on 23rd April after she was sworn in, the debate was about Bloody Sunday, every time she stood up to be selected by the speaker of the house to speak, she was ignored, this was pre-planned,and the speaker new not to call her name to speak. But the crunch came when the then secretary of state Reg Maulding stated, "The British army fired in self defence on that day (bloody sunday), Bernadette left her seat and walked over and Smacked him across the face, I don't give two hoots what anyone says, but I was very Proud of her that day. she got suspended for six months, on full pay of course. one fiery little woman.

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  17. itsjustmacker-

    Good to read a person who knows the facts and dates- can you put up the four dates that Bernadette took the crown oath- as a sitting MP takes the oath once a year-kind of keeps them in line-

    You called those that sit at stormont brits-as is your right- would you also call all those that sat at westminister brits-

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  18. ItsjustMacker; 'but I was very Proud of her that day.'

    Me too. And I wasnt even born.

    An exceptional, hardy and inspirational woman in my opinion. Still doing a great job for her community in Coalisland by all accounts

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  19. I still don't understand why more people aren't asking for a re-opening of the Kincora scandal. I know the reason is simply to protect the guilty.
    When the abuse scandals within the RC church broke they were rightly lambasted from all quarters.
    But the way Kincora has/ is being 'air-brushed' out of histroy is sickening.
    I wonder how many kids died in the making of 'snuff movies'..? Guess we'll never know.

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  20. MichaelHenry –
    I too have often felt at odds with McAlsikey’s position on several issues and at times thought her quite pompous and condescending which are not unusual traits in most ‘would be revolutionaries’ and also derided those who hung on her every word, never questioning her remarks – not that there were that many that needed further questioning!
    But she, unlike SF in Tyrone, has never meandered around social and political issues and for that she has spent most of her life stigmatised as a ‘trouble maker’ and vilified by the Establishment that now incorporates today’s SF. Her words like those of Anthony McIntyre often ring with the truth which at times, the truth can be exactly the words that we would prefer not to hear for it reminds us very much of our own failings.

    Like Anthony McIntyre, from time to time she may utter words that warrant rebuke, not necessarily for their meaning but for the harshness of their delivery. At the end of the day, they both have never meandered and both have endured years of abuse that now commonly emanates from those once considered comrades and for that, their courage to stand firm in the face of such adversity needs commending not further vilification from one that has pocketed the Queen’s shilling and repeats his masters warped reasoning as an explanation for doing so….if only we all could show such courage.

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  21. michaelhenry:

    "can you put up the four dates that Bernadette took the crown oath- as a sitting MP takes the oath once a year"

    as for the four dates which you suggest Bernadette took the crown oath, I am only aware of her original oath, also, that is news to me that MPs take the oath every year, but I'm sure you have the facts in front of you, otherwise you would not be asking the question, can you post the dates?.

    "You called those that sit at stormont brits-as is your right- would you also call all those that sat at westminister brits"

    YES

    Niall:

    Excellent post and straight to the point, you say it as it is.

    Belfast Bookworm:

    Yes she is still active to this very day and I hope she continues to do so.

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  22. Niall,

    that is very generous. However, bravery is never the way I characterised it. I never felt particularly brave, that perennial knot in the stomach, the endless anxiety that plagued me. I just think my determination not to be censored helped me deal with it. It was something I found an anathema. I also felt that some of those who stayed in and confronted things differently were braver. That option didn't suit my temperament. But it is odd the way people think they see something in us that we don't see ourselves. I look at so many people in life and think to myself I wish I had their courage. And at the end of the day I often think of the things I could have spoken out against but didn't. I simply determined never to say what I didn't believe even if I didn't always say what I did believe.




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  23. Mackers,

    "But it is odd the way people think they see something in us that we don't see ourselves."

    Well you're hardly going to respond with,
    "too right Niall", are you now?Humble and modest as ever. I'm in tears here!!!!!!

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