‘Peter Pan’ Savile thought he was untouchable, says ex-aide

Janet Cope spoke out as it was announced that former High Court judge Dame Janet Smith and ex-Sky News executive Nick Pollard are to lead the BBC’s independent reviews stemming from the sex abuse allegations surrounding the late DJ.

Dame Janet, who led the inquiry into mass killer Harold Shipman, will lead the examination of the “culture and practices of the BBC” during the years Savile worked there while Mr Pollard, a former head of Sky News, will look into whether there were any “failings” in the way a Newsnight report into claims against Savile was handled.

The planned news report was dropped late last year and there have been repeated suggestions the decision was made because the BBC was already planning to do more favourable programmes, claims which the BBC has repeatedly denied.

Ms Cope, 70, who was Savile’s PA for 32 years until she was suddenly sacked by him in 2001, described him as “eccentric, manipulative, controlling” and said he was like Peter Pan, “forever surrounding himself with youngsters”.

She said: “I was frightened to death of him and I wasn’t the only one. He loved the power he had over people.

“On the face of it Jim led a celibate, nomadic and simple life which may have disguised a more sordid double life.”

BBC director-general George Entwistle said last week that he was launching the Newsnight inquiry to shake off the “clouds of suspicion”.

The Pollard review will also look into the handling of material that may have been of interest to the police or other authorities and will begin “as a matter of urgency”. He will be given legal support independent of BBC management.

In addition to looking at the BBC during the Savile years, the Smith Review will examine if the corporation’s child protection and “whistleblowing” policies are up to the job.

Dame Janet - whose inquiry will not begin until police indicate they are happy for it to proceed - will be assisted by an expert in child safeguards.

Her review will include evidence from people who have made allegations about being sexually abused by Savile on BBC premises or while on location for the corporation.

And it will hear from those who claim they raised concerns either formally or informally about his activities.

Police believe the DJ and television presenter’s alleged catalogue of sex abuse could have spanned six decades and included about 60 victims.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller has said there is no need for a wider inquiry into Savile’s activities while the police investigation was going on.

She said it was crucial that detectives were allowed to continue their investigation “unfettered” by other inquiries.

Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley, yesterday wrote to media regulator Ofcom voicing his concern at what he described as the “appalling revelations” that have surfaced in recent weeks about Savile’s time at the BBC.

He told the regulator’s chief executive, Ed Richards, that it was “becoming obvious” that senior figures at the corporation had effectively turned a blind eye to the star’s activities.

Mr Davies said Ofcom should therefore carry out an inquiry into whether the BBC was a fit and proper organisation to hold a broadcasting licence.

He also said comparisons could be drawn between the regulator’s handling of the Savile case and the phone hacking controversy that hit Rupert Murdoch’s media empire last year.

That crisis led to Ofcom conducting a fit and proper persons review into satellite broadcaster BSkyB, which is part-owned by Mr Murdoch’s News Corporation group.

Last night Mr Davies told the Yorkshire Post: “This is the BBC’s phone hacking moment. It seems to me that if it was considered right to carry out an inquiry into whether Sky were fit and proper people to hold a licence, then by definition it must be appropriate for the same investigation to take place into the BBC on what is a much more serious matter.”

Some of the women who claim to have been abused by Savile as schoolgirls in the 1970s say they were attacked on BBC premises.

It has also emerged that the BBC’s Newsnight programme dropped an investigation into the Leeds-born TV and radio host soon after his death last year.

Yesterday Savile’s long-time producer on children’s TV show Jim’ll Fix It said he was completely unaware of the presenter’s activities and said the star managed to “hoodwink” him.

But Roger Ordish said he did know that Savile had a “predilection for younger females”.

In his first interview since the disclosures about Savile’s alleged abuse of possibly dozens of underage victims over a period of many years, he described the presenter as a “manipulative” man.

But he told ITV1’s This Morning he saw no abuse during the two decades in which he worked with the late TV and radio host.

The disclosures about Savile’s private life were made in an ITV documentary a fortnight ago.

The BBC is also to appoint an independent expert to look at sexual harassment claims and practices after staff came forward to make allegations about other inappropriate conduct to which they say they have been subjected over the years.

Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman reiterated her party’s calls for an independent inquiry.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think what we need to do is get to the truth.

“Clearly something terrible went on for many years across a number of institutions and I think we need to learn the lessons.”

Challenged that it was the job of the police to investigate possible criminal prosecutions, she pointed out that Savile was dead and “therefore will not be able to stand trial”.

“One of the really key lessons that we need to learn from is why did so many people feel they couldn’t complain, that they weren’t able to complain, and those that did complain, why weren’t they believed?”

Ms Harman said it was “a problem” that there were a number of different inquiries at different institutions because “we are looking at one man who manipulated the whole system”.

“It’s the Government’s responsibility to say this is very serious and has to be investigated independently,” she said.

“The perpetrator is dead but the institutions need to learn the lessons of why this could go on for so long, and that needs one independent inquiry.”