Savile-probe driver charged with sex offences

David Smith is accused of two counts of indecent assault, two of gross indecency and a further sex offence in 1984, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

He is the first person to be charged under Operation Yewtree, the national investigation prompted after claims were made against disgraced TV presenter Savile.

Alison Saunders, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, said: “The CPS has carefully considered the evidence gathered as part of Operation Yewtree in relation to David Smith, who was employed as a driver at the time of the allegations.

“We have concluded, in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, and that it is in the public interest for David Smith to be charged with five offences.”

The charges are two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 14 between June 1 and July 21 1984; two counts of gross indecency with a boy aged under 14 between the same dates and buggery of a boy aged under 16 between July 1 and 21, 1984.

Smith, who was arrested in last December, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 8.

BBC news reported that Smith had worked as a driver for the broadcaster. But a BBC press office spokeswoman said they were unable to confirm whether he had been employed by the organisation, as their records do not go back as far as 1984.