Jimmy Savile's Jim'll Fix It Producers 'Set Up' Girl To Appear With Paedophile Keith Harding
Savile Producers 'Set Up' Girl To Appear Alongside Jim'll Fix It Paedophile
Jack Sommers— The Huffington Post UK/PA
|
A young girl was "set up" to appear with a convicted paedophile on Jimmy Savile's Jim'll Fix It, it has been claimed.
Keith Harding, a leading antiques expert who appeared on television alongside Savile, was a convicted child abuser and a member of a notorious paedophile campaign group, the BBC reported.
The Today programme said it had seen confidential social services reports confirming Keith Harding's "involvement" with the Paedophile Information Exchange (Pie).
It also described the appearance of Harding - who died earlier this year - on the 1980 Christmas edition of the BBC's Jim'll Fix It as a "set-up" by the programme's producers.
Open Image Modal
The producers of Jim'll Fix It 'set up' the girl to appear alongside Keith Harding (right), the Today Programme reported
In December 1980, he was filmed by Jim'll Fix It at his workshop in Islington where he fixed a music box belonging to a 13-year-old girl whose letter was shown on screen requesting the repair.
She then appeared with her younger brother in the studio alongside Harding and Savile - who has was exposed as a serial child abuser after his death in 2011.
The girl's brother - named only as Dean - told the Today programme that the feature was "set up" by the production team who instigated the item by approaching the family.
"She was asked to write that letter. The way it came about was that my uncle was asked by his then girlfriend, who was a researcher at the BBC, if anybody in the family had a musical box," he said.
"Obviously the letter must have been done after the facts."
According to Today, Harding was convicted of indecent assault against four children aged eight and nine in the late 1950s and was a "schedule 1" offender - meaning his convictions remained on his police file for life.
However he was subsequently given the Freedom of the City of London and became a member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, as well as running a museum regularly visited by children.
Dean said he and his sister were chaperoned by a relative throughout their time on the programme and nothing untoward took place.
The Today programme said it had not been possible to establish the motive for engineering Harding's appearance on Jim'll Fix It in this way.
In a statement, the BBC said: "Today's BBC has appropriate safeguards in place to protect children and young people.
"Dame Janet Smith is making an impartial and independent investigation into the historical culture and practices of the BBC, which will identify lessons to be learned from the Savile period."
Jimmy Savile Abuse Timeline
(01 of24)
Open Image Modal
Jimmy Savile in 1961 around the time he was working for Radio Luxembourg. He is at London Airport with Pan American stewardess Birgit Johansson with two gold discs; one is for American singer Elvis Presley for having sold one million copies of "It's Now or Never" in the UK, and the other is for Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker (credit:PA)
(02 of24)
Open Image Modal
Cilla Black and Jimmy Savile before a Variety Club Luncheon at the Savoy Hotel. Taken in 1964, the year Savile became the first presenter of Top of the Pops (credit:PA)
(03 of24)
Open Image Modal
Two women have come forward with allegations from the 1960s, one who was 14 and another who was a teenager when she claims Savile sexually abused her in Scarborough (credit:PA)
(04 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile in 1969 with Physically Handicapped and Able-Bodied (PHAB) member Erika Mentz from Germany and other PHAB members at a dance at Devonshire House (credit:PA)
(05 of24)
Open Image Modal
1969 also saw Savile begin volunteering at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital for specialist spinal injuries. He would later be given a room there (credit:PA)
(06 of24)
Open Image Modal
Jimmy Savile presenting a cheque to children on behalf of the NSPCC in 1969 (credit:PA)
(07 of24)
Open Image Modal
The 1970s saw Savile start volunteering at Leeds General Infirmary and... (credit:PA)
(08 of24)
Open Image Modal
... Broadmoor secure high-security psychiatric hospital. Allegations by former patients have been made against Savile although ex-workers have disputed the idea that he could have been left alone with anyone whilst working there (credit:PA)
(09 of24)
Open Image Modal
The 70s also saw the start of Jim'll Fix It. Allegations from this period include Caroline Moore, a 13-year-old patient at Stoke Mandeville hospital in 1971, who says Savile "rammed his tongue" down her throat and another allegation accuses Savile of molesting a brain-damaged teenage patient at Leeds General Infirmary in 1972 (credit:PA)
(10 of24)
Open Image Modal
The 1980s saw the continuation of Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It as Savile became a much loved household name. Two allegations relating to this time include one from a then-15-year-old girl (not pictured) who made a complaint of abuse by Savile in Lancashire. Pictured is 12-year-old Rebecca Heap (credit:PA)
(11 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile at the Stoke Mandeville hospital with injured children from Beirut in 1987 (credit:PA)
(12 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile was knighted in 1990 and continued his charity work throughout the decade (credit:PA)
(13 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile was questioned in 2007 by police about allegations of sexual abuse but the Crown Prosecution service says there is not enough evidence to warrant a prosecution (credit:PA)
(14 of24)
Open Image Modal
A 2008 police report into abuse at the Haut de Garenne children's home in Jersey names Savile, although this is never made public (credit:PA)
(15 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile re-united with his Jim'll Fix It chair in 2009. The previous year Sussex police received a complaint of sexual assault but went on to say the victim was "unwilling to co-operate in any investigation" (credit:PA)
(16 of24)
Open Image Modal
Jimmy Savile is found dead at the age of 84 in October 2011. He is buried in Scarborough (credit:PA)
(17 of24)
Open Image Modal
In December 2011 the BBC drop an investigation by Newsnight into the allegations of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile. Three tribute programmes are aired instead (credit:PA)
(18 of24)
Open Image Modal
ITV airs a documentary, 'Exposure, the Other Side of Jimmy Savile', in which a number of women claim they were abused by Savile as youngsters, including Karin Ward (pictured) (credit:ITV)
(19 of24)
Open Image Modal
Within days of the documentary, many more allegations surface. By the 9 October Peter Spindler of the Metropolitan Police tells the BBC: "It is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender" (credit:PA)
(20 of24)
Open Image Modal
11 October 2012 and George Entwistle, Director General of the BBC, asks journalists why the Newsnight programme was dropped as police from Tayside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and North Yorkshire police say they are investigating allegations going back to 1959 (credit:PA)
(21 of24)
Open Image Modal
12 October and police reveal they have 340 potential lines of inquiry (credit:PA)
(22 of24)
Open Image Modal
15 October sees a man come forward alleging that Savile abused him when he was a nine-year-old boyscout (credit:PA)
(23 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile's family removed his headstone from his grave and broke it up in the wake of the furore (credit:PA)
Jimmy Savile sexually abuses transgender man(24 of24)
Open Image Modal
A transgender man comes forward alleging that Jimmy Savile 'stuck his hand up his nightdress' while he was a 17-year-old teenage girl at Broadmoor in the 1970's. More here http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/15/jimmy-savile-timeline-abuse-allegations_n_1966426.html?1350304573#slide=1641388 (credit:PA)