Clerics who worked at BBC apologise for Savile failure

SENIOR STAFF in the BBC religious affairs department knew of Jimmy Savile’s boasting about sex with young girls, according to an independent report into the culture and practices at the corporation when the entertainer worked there.

But the report by Dame Janet Smith concluded that the BBC “as a corporate body” had no knowledge of sex crimes being committed over many decades by one of its most prominent celebrities.

However, Canon Colin Semper, head of radio religious programmes in 1979, told Sky News that he had been aware that Savile’s “eye for the ladies” extended to teenage fans when he worked with the DJ on the programme Speakeasy. But even though he had suspicions he said he did not tell anybody in authority and “perhaps I should have done”.
Canon David Winter, a former head of religious broadcasting, also heard rumours about Savile’s sexual predilection for teenage girls, says the report.

The 1,000-page report accuses the BBC of allowing a culture of “fear and reverence” to develop around its celebrities and says it was clearly “more worried about reputation than the safety of children”.

Emeritus Bishop of Portsmouth, Crispian Hollis, who worked as Roman Catholic assistant to the head of religious broadcasting at the BBC in 1977, told The Tablet that he had not crossed paths with Savile and was not aware of the culture surrounding celebrities as his department rarely came into contact with “the mega stars”. He remembered being proud to be a part of the organisation but described the report’s findings as “catastrophic for the BBC”.