Now Scarborough strips Savile of Freeman honour

JIMMY Savile’s name will be wiped from Scarborough’s list of Freemen of the Borough if a council motion is passed today.

Councillors will argue his name should be removed from the roll of honour as a gesture of support to his 300 alleged victims, who he is said to have abused over six decades.

The disgraced BBC star was awarded the accolade in 2005 to celebrate his links with the North Yorkshire resort, where he owned a second home and was buried overlooking the sea a year ago.

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Councillor Tom Fox, who proposed the motion, said: “This council wishes to send its heartfelt support to, and acknowledge the courage of, those who have come forward having suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of the alleged serial predatory sexual offender Sir Jimmy Savile.

“In addition, this council, in further acknowledgment of the serious predatory sexual allegations spanning over six decades, agrees that if the council had been aware of such revelations at the time of Sir Jimmy Savile’s nomination for honorary freeman of the borough of Scarborough, the council would have refused it.

“It is therefore proposed that his name be removed forthwith from the honour board for freemen of the borough pending the final report from the Metropolitan Police, when this council will make a permanent decision in relation to the matters referred to in this motion.”

Historically, anyone made a freeman was exempt from tolls and given special privileges. It is still awarded to “persons of distinction and any persons who have rendered eminent services to the borough”.

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Scarborough has granted freeman status to 20 individuals and groups since the local government reshuffle of 1974, including playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn, retired boxer Paul Ingle and the Yorkshire Regiment.

The motion to remove Savile’s name from the honour board will be considered at a full council meeting which begins at 2pm.

Savile’s ornate triple headstone in Scarborough’s Woodlands Cemetery was knocked down and sent to landfill last month at the request of his family.