Sir Jimmy Savile - a child molester and pervert?

In a post last year called Losing Sir Jimmy I wrote about Sir Jimmy Savile in nostalgic, if not altogether glowing terms.

Certainly the guy was an ego maniac and at times unpleasant. And the paedo rumors were there swirling around him but not substantiated. Like idiots we gave him the benefit of the doubt.

It's, therefore, a real shock to me to read in The Sun about how a number of women have come forward to claim how the late flaboyant Top of the Pops presenter and DJ sexually abused them when they were teenagers.

This is a really horrible and shocking tale. It reveals what you can get away with just because you happen to be a celebrity and how the word of a victim means nothing if it's up against a TV star. And while we should pepper this account with a few "allegedlys," I really can't see why a number of grown women would come forward 38 years later to make allegations against a dead man that weren't true.

I was particularly taken aback by the line that when one of Savile's 14-year-old victims complained to her school staff did not believe her and put her in a padded cell for five days in solitary confinement until she withdrew her story.

On Wednesday ITV will air a documentary claiming Sir Jimmy abused under-age girls including at the BBC TV Center and in his Rolls Royce.

This is sickening on so many levels. When I was growing up Sir Jimmy was chosen to front the most famous children's TV show at the time Jim'll Fix It - a show in which he bounced kids happily on his knee and made their dreams come true. We all wrote in and expressed our disappointment when we weren't picked. It's a disconcerting feeling to know the real JS; it's a bit like discovering Santa was a kiddie fiddler.

There's another disturbing dimension to this. Last year BBC 2's Newsnight show was investigating an allegation of another of Sir Jimmy's alleged victims. Newsnight has a repuation for hard-hitting journalism (supposedly) but the report was axed.

According to the Sun bosses at the BBC were "incredibly uncomfortable" about the report because so much money had already been spent on a lavish tribute to Sir Jimmy last Christmas and it was pulled. So much for investigative journalism.

It seems nobody was brave enought to get the truth on Sir Jimmy when he was alive and they were even reticent to do so after his death.

I'm going to cut this rant short as I'm feeling queasy and it's gone midnight.