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PEDO Jimmy Savile Survivor Speaks Out For First Time Since Helping to Unmask Predator
Angie, not her real name, was just 15 years old when Savile groomed her, beginning years of horrific abuse from which she has never been able to completely recover
Daily Mirror UK 3 OCT 2022
Savile presented Top of the Pops
Jimmy Saville posed,in studio at Radio Luxembourg, 1964
A brave woman repeatedly raped by Jimmy Savile has spoken publicly for the first time since she helped to unmask the *paedophile, 10 years ago today.
Angie, not her real name, was just 15 years old in the late 60s when Savile groomed and attacked her, marking the start of years of horrific abuse from which she has never recovered.
She was one of five women targeted by the Jim’ll Fix It star who appeared in ITV1’s Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, exactly a decade ago.
The documentary, presented by former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, led to hundreds of victims coming forward as it emerged Savile had used his position of power to target *vulnerable youngsters.
And in its wake a number of other stars were jailed for child sex offences including Rolf Harris, Max Clifford and Gary Glitter.
Rolf Harris
Gary Glitter
The revelations changed the face of child protection in the UK, leading to thousands more victims coming forward and a string of official reports into the failure to protect youngsters at the BBC, NHS, police and Crown Prosecution Service.
Angie said this week: “Our documentary has made a huge difference to so many lives.
“I knew I had to get it out there, it was vital that people knew the truth about him.
“Without Mark we wouldn’t be where we are now. He had a difficult time getting the documentary to air, but he fought and achieved it. He did not give up on it, nor us five victims.”
Angie, a retired carer from the south of England who is now in her 60s, was a huge pop-music fan as a teenager.
Like much of the nation, she would watch cigar-chomping Savile on Top of the Pops most weeks.
So she jumped at the chance to meet the star, then in his early 40s, at the West London studios of Radio Luxembourg where he was a DJ.
Angie said: “He was very *flamboyant and said he thought I was OK, that’s how the grooming process all started.
Angie was only 15 when she was first raped by Savile
Former Police Detective Mark Williams Thomas
“He invited me to different places where there were lots of other people around so it felt safe and exciting.”
Angie said that within a few weeks Savile had invited her to a London hotel where she was raped.
She said: “He was much older than me and I didn’t know what was happening. I was shocked. Kids in those days didn’t talk about sex, I had no idea about anything like that. I was absolutely frightened, it was all so scary and I froze.
“Afterwards he treated me as though I didn’t even exist, as though nothing had happened. I was told to go, it was as brutal as that.”
Angie says she felt trapped for years – in 1974, he gave her a copy of his autobiography in which he wrote “no escape” and signed it “your keeper”.
She said: “He was a very good manipulator. He was very clever because you didn’t quite realise what was going on, yet at the same time he told all these funny stories.
“He gave you these good times that young teens would like, at the same time there was this really, really dark side to him.”
Savile used the threat of violence as a tool to keep his victims quiet.
She said: “I know he was connected to the criminal underworld and it was made clear that whatever he did you just did not say anything, you kept your mouth shut.
“I was told at the time he knew the Krays. He menaced us with the *presence of minders from the *underworld. So it wasn’t just abuse that we suffered, but fear for our lives.
“I had to watch him grooming other victims, agonisingly helpless as he gave me the gloating ‘look’ that told me what lay in store for them later. He was very menacing and you knew that if you wanted to be safe, you kept your mouth shut.
“It was his whole demeanour, you knew if you messed with him that something might happen to you.
“It wasn’t said explicitly, you just knew it. It was frightening.”
She finally managed to break away from the monster in the mid 1970s but the damage had already been done.
Angie said: “I’m still suffering quite badly, I developed depression and have had counselling. Though I continue my life, it’s always been present.”
She did not tell a soul until Williams-Thomas came to see her in the wake of Savile’s death aged 84 in October 2011. She said: “I knew nothing could be said until he died.”
Prince Charles led tributes but, at the same time, BBC journalist Meirion Jones was probing claims he abused young girls at the Duncroft Approved School in Surrey.
That investigation for Newsnight was spiked by BBC bosses who broadcast tributes to the TV star that Christmas instead.
Williams-Thomas picked up the story and took it to ITV where he spent months battling to get it broadcast. Angie
said: “I knew there were lots of girls around the country like me who were on their own and I thought I had to try to do something.
“I had to try to get the truth out there because people thought he was wonderful, I knew he wasn’t.”
Angie, who says Savile raped her on BBC premises, has been angered by its forthcoming drama about him, called ,The Reckoning starring Steve Coogan.
She said: “I feel like I’m being abused all over again. This drama will cause immense suffering.
“It won’t enhance the BBC’s reputation, but only highlight their corruption. I want them to stop now.
The BBC say we must understand why Savile did these things but we know why his offending was ignored for so long. ‘You, the BBC did nothing to stop it – you were, and are the problem.’”
A BBC spokesman said: “The drama will examine the impact Savile’s appalling crimes had on victims, the powerlessness many felt when they tried to raise the alarm, and how he used his celebrity to hide in plain sight.
“We’re working closely with many people whose lives were impacted by him to ensure their stories are told with sensitivity and respect.”
IT was by far the most difficult investigation I have ever undertaken. At almost every stage I and my amazing producer, Lesley Gardener, navigated obstacles I had never experienced before.
As I reflect 10 years on, I realise it was a make-or-break decision to investigate Savile; get it right and it would bring justice for many, get it wrong, and I would have never worked in television again.
Some people have said to me Savile got away with his crimes, but justice comes in many forms.
Yes, he was never prosecuted, even though 10 allegations were made to the police against him between 1955 and 2009, because serious “Mistakes were Made”.
The appropriately named report by HM Inspector of Constabulary laid bare the failings.
Police forces failed to connect allegations. Even when a number of victims came forward to the same force, they were not advised of other victims’ complaints.
I remember waking up on the morning after the broadcast of The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, and feeling achievement and relief.
And admiration for the brave women whose voices gave back strength to thousands of victims.
In the days after the broadcast the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Yewtree. I met with the head of Yewtree and he said they reckoned Savile had abused about 30 people. I said “more like 500”.
Fast-forward to the end of the police investigation and they had 450 specific allegations spread over a 54-year period.
The programme created a landslide effect; reports to police of sexual crimes increased by 100%, the NSPCC said that as a direct result of our programme over 1,000 children had contacted them about sexual crimes.
The whole Savile effect remained on the front of national newspapers for 41 days.
However, to date nobody has been held to account. There are people who knew Savile was a predator and who could have stopped him. There are serving and ex-police officers who failed to investigate allegations properly.
I have no doubt Savile avoided prosecution because of his celebrity status. It took him to die for the final truth to come out.
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