Victims of Jimmy Savile have questioned why Sir Keir Starmer was not asked to intervene in the prosecution of the disgraced BBC star.
The Labour leader was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when the decision was taken not to press charges against the Top Of The Pops host.
While Sir Keir was not personally involved, a report he commissioned later criticised the service for not bringing charges for the historical allegations.
Following Savile’s death, it emerged that the presenter had abused hundreds of children and women at locations including hospitals, schools and the BBC.
Two of his victims last night questioned why as head of the service Sir Keir didn’t have a role in the decision not to prosecute Savile.
Prolific paedophile Jimmy Savile systematically and disturbingly preyed upon young and vulnerable girls
Following Savile’s death, it emerged that the presenter had abused hundreds of children and women at locations including hospitals, schools and the BBC
Victims of Jimmy Savile have questioned why Sir Keir Starmer was not asked to intervene in the prosecution of the disgraced BBC star
Judy Vaughn, a dancer on Top Of The Pops who the presenter dragged into a dressing room, said: ‘I think ‘Why did you not take this forward?’. But there you are – they didn’t. And Keir Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions at the time, subsequently got knighted. The CPS has a lot to answer for.’
The retired band manager had been a dancer on the BBC music show in the 1960s when Savile dragged her into his dressing room.
Ms Vaughn, now 76, said she managed to escape his clutches but complained to the corporation about what had happened.
However, she says she got short shrift: ‘I was told, ‘If you don’t like it, don’t come back. Don’t get paid. He’s more important than you.’ So you were told to shut up. A lot of people know about it and a lot of people covered up for him.’
Separately, a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Savile while a patient at Stoke Mandeville Hospital said that – while she didn’t blame Sir Keir for what had happened to her – the presenter’s history was widely known.
The woman, who does not wish to be named, said the entertainer was ‘creepy’ with a number of patients and sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager.
‘He saw me when he was coming out of the gym,’ she said. ‘He walked over and bent down like he was going to give me a peck on the cheek but rammed his tongue down my throat.
‘It was repulsive and I was in shock. I can’t recall how long it lasted as it felt like an eternity but may have only been a matter of seconds.’
She contacted the police after he died in 2011 but felt that they did not act on her complaints.
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‘I feel let down by the authorities,’ she said. ‘Firstly, because he was able to do what he did, and abuse so many people who were bedridden and could not run away from him, but also because his victims were never given any justice.
A Labour spokesperson has said ‘Keir Starmer had no role in the decision not to prosecute Jimmy Savile’
A woman, who does not wish to be named, said the entertainer was ‘creepy’ with a number of patients and sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager
‘He was let off and that means there must have been a lot of underhand stuff going on.
‘Heads should have rolled. I don’t blame Sir Keir Starmer, I blame all the people who knew what was going on at the grassroots level.
There is so much corruption and ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’. Savile had a lot of people in his back pocket.
‘I do, however, find it remarkable that as head of prosecutions Keir Starmer knew nothing of what was going on within the investigation.’
Following the assault, she said the hospital treated it like it wasn’t ‘a big deal’ and told patients to respect Savile as a donor to the hospital.
Complaints about the presenter’s behaviour were first made to police in 2007. He was interviewed under caution in 2009 but denied the claims and was never arrested.
None of the victims were willing to testify in court against the star.
Sir Keir became head of the CPS in 2008 and was in post the following year when the decision was made not to prosecute Savile.
Allegations were examined by local police and a reviewing lawyer for the CPS but were not taken forward on the grounds of ‘insufficient evidence’. When Savile died in 2011, it emerged he had sexually abused hundreds of children and women.
The Labour leader was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when the decision was taken not to press charges against the Top Of The Pops host
In 2013, an official investigation commissioned by Sir Keir into the decision not to charge him criticised both the CPS and police for their handling of the allegations.
Its author, Alison Levitt, said she had ‘reservations’ about the decision and concluded there was a chance of bringing proceedings before Savile’s death.
Sir Keir apologised for the ‘shortcomings’ played by the CPS, which later that year updated its guidance on prosecuting child sexual abuse in England and Wales.
A Labour Party spokesman said: ‘Our thoughts are with those who were victims of Jimmy Savile. As the official review showed, Keir Starmer had no role in the decision not to prosecute Jimmy Savile.’
