• BBC legend Jimmy Savile committed at least 214 sex crimes, police say

    Leslie Lee / Getty Images

    Iconic British television presenter Jimmy Savile shows off his OBE award after being honored at London's Buckingham Palace on March 21, 1972.

    By Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

    LONDON — Former BBC star Jimmy Savile was one of Britain’s "most prolific" sex offenders, committing at least 214 sex crimes against victims aged as young as 8, police said Friday.

    Investigators released a report cataloging more than 50 years of rapes and indecent assaults. It accused the late television and radio host of using his celebrity status to gain access to vulnerable children in hospitals, nightclubs and even a hospice for the terminally ill.

    Almost all the allegations have been made since Savile’s death in 2011, even though the offences date back as far as 1955.

    The revelations have triggered a scandal in Britain and prompted a string of public inquiries into how some allegations were not properly investigated while Savile was alive.

    "It is now clear that Savile was hiding in plain sight and using his celebrity status and fundraising activity to gain uncontrolled access to vulnerable people across six decades," the police-led report said. "For a variety of reasons the vast majority of his victims did not feel they could speak out and it’s apparent that some of the small number who did had their accounts dismissed by those in authority including parents and carers."

    Savile, who raised an estimated $55 million for charity, achieved fame on BBC shows including "Top of the Pops" and "Jim'll Fix It." In 1990, he was given a knighthood by Britain's Queen Elizabeth and received a Papal Knighthood at the Vatican.

    For 20 years, Jimmy Savile's children's show was a highlight of Saturday night family TV on the BBC. But now, British police say 300 people have come forward with claims that Savile abused them during his 60-year broadcasting career. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.

    The offences span 28 police forces across the U.K. and the scale of his abuse is so vast that the report included a map and an index of the alleged locations.

    The number of people Savile victimized "simply beggars belief," Peter Watt, co-author of the report [PDF link] and director of children’s charity NSPCC told ITV News.

    "He is without doubt one of the most prolific sex offenders we have ever come across and every number represents a victim that will never get justice now he is dead. But with this report we can at least show his victims that they have been taken seriously and their suffering has been recognized."

    In total, more than 450 have people have come forward to police with allegations of abuse involving Savile. Most but not all victims have been interviewed and to date 214 criminal offences have been formally recorded. They included 34 rapes or serious sexual assaults, according to the report. The last incident recorded occurred in 2009. His victims ranged in age from 8 to 47.

    The report concluded:

    “The details provided by the victims of his abuse paint the picture of a mainly opportunistic individual who used his celebrity status as a powerful tool to coerce or control them, preying on the vulnerable or star-struck for his sexual gratification. Sadly, this type of behavior is not uncommon in any society - sexual abuse, whether in street gangs, though trafficking or within families and institutions, often involves the use of powerful coercion, intimidation and manipulation to exploit the vulnerable."

    In a separate development, Britain’s most senior prosecutor apologized to some of the women abused by Savile, revealing that police missed three chances to take him to trial while he was alive.

    Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, said police had been "unjustifiably cautious" investigation four allegations involving girls as young as 14 who said they were abused by Savile in the 1970s.

    He said he hoped the organization’s internal review would prove to be a "watershed" moment in the handling of child abuse cases.

    In a statement, he said:

    "Many people feel that for sexual offences, where it is 'one person's word against another's' and there is no or little scientific or other evidence to support the allegation, no prosecution should be brought. But this is to ignore the reality of many sexual offences which, by their nature, do not usually take place in front of witnesses and result in no meaningful scientific evidence. Taking a cautious approach to all complainants, on the ground that some might be making a false allegation of a sexual offence, can have the consequence that a prosecution for a true complaint may not take place."

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    Jimmy Savile abuse scandal stuns Britain: a who's who primer

    Report: Pop star arrested in connection with Savile abuse case

  • BBC presenter, 82, charged with indecent assault

    Stefan Rousseau / AFP - Getty Images

    In this file picture taken on March 22, 2012 British presenter Stuart Hall poses with his Officer of the British Empire (OBE) medal presented to him by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at an investiture ceremony in Buckingham Palace.

    By Michael Holden and Alessandra Prentice, Reuters

    A veteran BBC TV and radio presenter was charged with three counts of indecent assault by British police on Wednesday, the latest high-profile figure to be questioned since a sex scandal erupted at Britain's publicly funded broadcaster.


    The charges will be a further embarrassment for the BBC, which was thrown into turmoil when it was revealed in October that one of its former top stars, the late Jimmy Savile, had been one of Britain's most prolific child sex offenders.

    Stuart Hall, 82, best known for hosting the popular TV program "It's a Knockout" in the 1970s and 80s and who still appears on radio, was not charged with rape, police said.

    "The offenses are alleged to have been committed between 1974 and 1984 and to involve three girls aged between 9 and 16 years," police said in a statement.

    Hall has been released on bail and will appear before magistrates on January 7, police said.

    "There is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction," John Dilworth of the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.

    'Ghastly mess' at BBC: Ex-chief's pay questioned, more quit amid sex scandal

    The presenter still regularly appears on BBC airwaves, delivering erudite and grandiose soccer reports for which he is well-known to sports fans.

    His agent declined to go into detail about the arrest and referred queries to the BBC.

    "In light of the very serious nature of these charges Stuart Hall will not be working at the BBC while the police continue with their inquiries," a spokesman for the broadcaster said in a statement.

    BBC scandal: Wronged ex-politician vows to sue Twitter users who spread sex claims

    After revelations about Savile emerged in October, police launched an investigation into the presenter and potential accomplices. They have so far quizzed five people including the former glam rock singer Gary Glitter and comedian Freddie Starr, who both deny any wrongdoing.

    Hall's arrest is not part of that investigation, but revelations about Savile have prompted a flurry of allegations to police around the country.

    The BBC's much-criticized response to the Savile disclosures and suggestions it had covered up allegations against the late BBC presenter led to the resignation of its director general George Entwistle last month.

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  • BBC scandal: Wronged ex-politician vows to sue Twitter users who spread sex claims

    Andrew Stuart / Associated Press

    Lord Alistair McAlpine, who served as treasurer of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party while she ruled Britain during the 1980s, was wrongly linked to a child sex abuse scandal as a result of a botched investigation by the BBC's "Newsnight" program.

    By Keir Simmons, NBC News

    LONDON -- The British child abuse scandal enveloping the country’s much-loved public broadcaster, the BBC, has descended into who said what to whom. But this being 2012, much of it was said through Twitter.

    Lawyers for the former Conservative politician, Lord Alistair McAlpine, who was wrongly implicated in connection with sex abuse claims by a BBC show, have vowed to end the so-called trial by Twitter. They said they were looking at a "very long list" of users who wrongly repeated the allegations regarding Lord McAlpine with a view to taking legal action in the British courts. Simply deleting the messages would not be enough, the lawyers told The Guardian newspaper.

    High-profile Tweeters are first in line -- one of them has already received a legal warning. Sally Bercow, wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, has been told she may be sued for claims she made on her social media account. Her first Twitter response to the warning was: "*gulps*". Then "I guess I’d better get some legal advice then. Still maintain was not a libelous tweet – just foolish."

    Chris Jackson / Getty Images, file

    House of Commons Speaker John Bercow with his wife Sally arrive at Prince William's wedding at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011.

    Sweeping child abuse scandal shakes BBC and other British institutions

    If the legal action goes ahead it could be one of the first examples of celebrities sued for claims they have made on Twitter. Some well-known users now have followings greater than the readership of many newspapers.

    Prominent writer Geroge Monbiot went so far as to offer an "abject apology" for "tweets which hinted" at McAlpine's involvement in child abuse.

    "I helped to stoke an atmosphere of febrile innuendo around an innocent man, and I am desperately sorry for the harm I have done him," he said on his website. "I apologize abjectly and unreservedly to Lord McAlpine."

    The BBC has already agreed to pay McAlpine $295,000 for its incorrect broadcast about him. Newsnight, the show on which the claims were made has an audience of 700,000. Sally Bercow’s Twitter account has a following of almost 60,000.

    BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned on Saturday as the BBC spiraled further into scandal over its coverage of two separate sex abuse cases – one, a cover up, and the other, a possible wrongful accusation. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    And who said what inside the BBC has been another continuing question. Before the most recent controversy about wrongly identifying Lord McAlpine, the first scandal surrounded the BBC’s failure to identify a child abuser within its own ranks.

    Jimmy Savile was a hugely popular BBC host and radio DJ. A year ago a BBC investigation into him was shelved. Mark Thompson, who was director-general and editor-in-chief of the BBC at that time, this week took over as the New York Times' chief executive. In October he said: “During my time as director-general of the BBC, I never heard any allegations or received any complaints about Jimmy Savile.” 

    Yet Friday, the New York Times itself reported that in September Thompson threatened to sue the London Times over an article it was proposing to write connecting him to the spiking of the Savile story.

    'A steep fall' for BBC as child sex abuse scandal rocks the UK

    The newspaper quoted the letter from Thompson’s lawyers in September as referring to, “the behavior of the late television and radio presenter, specifically that he took advantage of a series of young women. Some of the alleged assaults took place on BBC premises.”  

    One former television executive, Stuart Purvis, now a professor of television journalism at London’s City University, said in his blog the controversy could tarnish the reputation of Thompson and his new employer:

    “The bottom line would appear to be that the man who now runs one of the world’s great newspapers did , earlier this year in his BBC role, put his name to a threat of legal action against one of the world’s other great newspapers after they put to him an allegation about Savile’s behaviour at the BBC that now seems to be accepted as fact.”

    NBC News contacted Thompson and his spokesman but did not receive a response.

    But in a statement to Purvis this week,Thompson's representative said the former BBC chief:

    “Verbally agreed to the tactic of sending a legal letter to the paper, but was not involved in its drafting, nor was he aware of the detail beyond the central and false allegation put to the BBC that he had influenced the decision to abandon Newsnight’s investigation into Jimmy Savile.”

    Rob Wilson, a member of Parliament who has followed the case closely, said Thompson’s role in the affair gets stranger and stranger.

    BBC boss Entwistle quits amid turmoil over network's child sex abuse scandal

    "I would be concerned if I were in New York. Mr. Thompson also presided over an office that for some reason failed to inform him on several occasions of serious allegations concerning Savile and, by extension, the BBC,” he told NBC News. "Now it appears legal threats were issued using his name against a newspaper over claims that he hadn't bothered to read, let alone investigate, but which turned out to be true."

    Carl Court / AFP - Getty Images, file

    Mark Thompson served as director-general of the BBC before joining the New York Times.

    This week the New York Times' public editor Margaret Sullivan praised her newspaper's robust coverage of its new chief executive, Thompson.

    The New York Times had “pulled no punches,” Sullivan wrote, but had found “nothing close to a smoking gun.”

    She did acknowledge, however, how sensitive the issue was.

    “What happens in London reverberates in New York," she said. "And the chaos at the BBC -- in which many of the people Mr. Thompson has supervised stepped aside as recently as this past weekend — feels uncomfortably close to home.”

    Follow NBC News' Keir Simmons on Twitter.

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  • BBC crisis: Wronged politician reaches settlement over false sex abuse allegations

    Reuters file

    In this file photo, Lord McAlpine, left, former treasurer of the Conservative Party and actor Edward Fox pose for photographers, while launching a poster campaign for the Referendum Party in Brighton, on Oct. 18, 1996.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Updated 6:05 p.m. ET: The BBC has agreed to pay 185,000 pounds ($295,000) to a former senior UK politician wrongly accused of child sex abuse as a result of one of its reports.

    Lord Alistair McAlpine, an ally of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was widely named on the internet as being the unidentified senior politician accused in a report by the BBC's flagship Newsnight program of abusing boys in social care. 

    The BBC has already apologized for linking McAlpine, a member of the House of Lords, to child sex abuse that happened decades ago in Wales. The mistaken report, broadcast nearly two weeks ago, has caused turmoil within BBC management ranks and led to the resignation of its chief.

    McAlpine, 70, told BBC radio he had been shocked by the report, which did not directly name him but led to Internet chatter about his purported role.

     

    Q & A: Crisis at the BBC

    BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned on Saturday as the BBC spiraled further into scandal over its coverage of two separate sex abuse cases – one, a cover up, and the other, a possible wrongful accusation. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

     

    He said the BBC had not contacted him to try to verify the report before it was televised on its "Newsnight" program. He said he would have told the broadcaster the reports were false. 

    "They should have called me and I would have told them exactly what they learned later on — that it was complete rubbish," he said.

    He expressed sympathy for the sex abuse victim who had mistakenly told BBC that McAlpine was the culprit, pointing out that the victim had suffered greatly because of the abuse.

    "But it wasn't me," McAlpine said.

    He said some of the damage done by the false report could never be undone.

    Sweeping child abuse scandal shakes BBC and other British institutions

    "It can be repaired to a point," McAlpine said. "But there is a British proverb, which is insidious and awful, where people say 'there's no smoke without a fire' — you know, 'he appears to be innocent, but...'

    McAlpine said "to find yourself a figure of public hatred, unjustifiably, is terrifying."

    Among those who could face legal action for identifying McAlpine as the un-named figure in the “Newsnight” report is Sally Bercow, wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

    His lawyer advised people who had named McAlpine on Twitter to come forward or face expensive lawsuits. 

    /

    This file picture shows Dave Lee Travis attending Family Portrait Week at the Eat And Two Veg restaurant on March 13, 2009 in London.

    "It's easier to come forward and see us and apologize and arrange to settle with us because, in the long run, this is the cheapest and best way to bring this matter to an end," Andrew Reid said.

    The BBC, which was already facing severe criticism for its handling of child sex abuse claims against its late TV host Jimmy Savile, has broadcast a complete on-air apology for the erroneous investigative report into historic child abuse in Wales.

    Meanwhile, police on Thursday arrested Dave Lee Travis, a former BBC radio DJ and television host, as part of the widening investigation into historic allegations of sex offences that began with complaints about Savile.

    Police said Travis, who they did not officially name but whose identity was confirmed to ITV News by neighbors, was held on suspicion of sexual offences and taken into custody. The BBC later said it was dropping a scheduled broadcast of an archive episode of music show Top of the Pops, dating from the 1970s, which Travis had hosted.

    Police are dividing their investigation into three strands: offences allegedly committed alone by Savile, who died last year aged 84, offences committed by him with others and offences committed by others alone.

    The statement said Thursday's arrest fell into the third category, "others." It was the fourth arrest in an operation codenamed "Yewtree".

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Q&A: Crisis at the BBC

    After being accused of covering up former BBC star Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse, the BBC falsely reported that a Margaret Thatcher-era politician had sexually abused children, leading to the resignation of the network's chief and the arrest of a former producer. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

    By NBC News staff

    LONDON -- The British Broadcasting Corp. is in the midst of its worst scandal in years, with the director general stepping down on Saturday.

    With the public losing trust in one of Britain’s most trusted enterprises, Chris Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, has said the BBC’s organizational structure needed a “radical overhaul” and three top editors have stepped aside. Here’s a look at some of the issues surrounding the crisis at Britain's flagship broadcaster.


    What is happening at the BBC?
    The BBC has been rocked by scandal following the production of two news programs, one broadcast Nov. 2 that falsely accused a politician and another from 2011 that alleged child sexual abuse by a former star BBC host, but which never aired.

    The director general of the BBC, George Entwistle, resigned Saturday amid the furor over how the world’s largest broadcaster has covered the scandal.

    On Monday, Helen Boaden, director of BBC News, and her deputy Stephen Mitchell, stepped aside pending a review of the BBC’s handling of the crises. Earlier, the editor of the news program at the center of the scandal had said he would also step aside pending the result of an investigation.

    Sweeping child abuse scandal shakes BBC, other UK institutions

    The saga has also called into question the role played by the new New York Times Company chief executive, Mark Thompson, a former BBC director general.

    Thompson was at the helm last year, when the BBC investigation into the alleged child sex abuse was dropped. He has said he did not know about the program's investigation and had no involvement in the decision to axe the report.

    In a statement last month, quoted by The New York Times, Thompson said, “During my time as director general of the BBC, I never heard any allegations or received any complaints about Jimmy Savile.”

    The BBC sent NBC News a prepared statement regarding Thompson’s knowledge of the affair:

    “Mark Thompson has repeatedly made clear he had no personal knowledge of the allegations." (Click here for the BBC’s full statements on the affair)

    How did this crisis begin?
    The crisis for the BBC began when it emerged that its flagship news program, “Newsnight,” had decided in December 2011 not to air the results of an investigation into allegations that former BBC star Jimmy Savile had sexually abused children. Instead, the BBC aired a program celebrating the life of Savile, who had recently died. The accusations against Savile were only aired by rival broadcaster ITV in October 2012.

    Jimmy Savile abuse scandal stuns Britain: a who's who primer

    The number of alleged victims of Savile, a radio and TV star from the 1960s through the 1980s, reached well into the dozens in the aftermath of the ITV program. Meantime, a number of police and other investigations have been launched into why the original “Newsnight” program was dropped and whether the BBC was involved in a cover up.

    On Nov. 2, “Newsnight” aired a separate program about allegations of abuse at a children’s home in Wales in the 1980s. In the broadcast, a witness claimed that he had been sexually abused a number of times by a senior Conservative Party politician.

    'Ghastly mess' at BBC: Ex-chief's pay questioned, more quit amid sex scandal

    “Newsnight” did not name the politician allegedly involved. But speculation on the Web suggested the abuser was former British Treasury minister Lord McAlpine, who issued a denial. The “Newsnight” witness then apologized for what he said was a case of mistaken identity. He said police had showed him a picture of his abuser but erroneously told him the man was McAlpine.

    What investigations are under way?
    In October, Entwistle announced two internal BBC investigations regarding the Savile sex abuse allegations.

    The first will be led by Nick Pollard, the former head of Sky News, which is another rival U.K. broadcaster. That probe will examine whether there were any failings of the handling of the original “Newsnight” investigation into the claims against Savile.

    A second investigation, led by former High Court Judge Dame Janet Smith, plans to examine the BBC culture during the Savile years.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    In relation to the Wales abuse claims, Cameron said on Nov. 5 he was appointing a “senior independent figure” to investigate the way sexual abuse allegations were handled in the 1970s and 1980s. The next day, British Home Secretary Theresa May announced a new police investigation into the Wales accusations.

    BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned on Saturday as the BBC spiraled further into scandal over its coverage of two separate sex abuse cases – one, a cover up, and the other, a possible wrongful accusation. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    What is the BBC’s background?
    Funded by an annual license fee levied on all TV viewers in Britain, the BBC employs around 22,000 people. As well as broadcasting in Britain, the BBC World Service has built an exceptional reputation around the globe reaching about 180 million people in 32 languages through its radio, TV and online services.

    Disturbed by both the commercialism of American radio and the state controls imposed in the Soviet Union, the BBC's founding father, John Reith, had intended the BBC to educate, inform and entertain when it was founded in 1922.

    NBC News staff and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • 'Ghastly mess' at BBC: Ex-chief's pay questioned, more quit amid sex scandal

    After being accused of covering up former BBC star Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse, the BBC falsely reported that a Margaret Thatcher-era politician had sexually abused children, leading to the resignation of the network's chief and the arrest of a former producer. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.  

    By NBC News wire reports

    LONDON -- The two most senior figures at BBC News “stepped aside” Monday, as the public broadcaster revealed that the corporation’s outgoing director general will get his full year’s salary of $715,000 despite resigning under pressure after 54 days in the post.

    The chairman of the broadcaster's governing body described revelations about the BBC’s multiple missteps in reporting a historic child sex abuse scandal in Britain as a “ghastly mess” and said the BBC needed a “radical overhaul.”

    Q&A: Crisis at the BBC

    "The basis for the BBC's position in this country is the trust that people have in it," Chris Patten, a one-time senior figure in Cameron's Conservative Party and the last British governor of Hong Kong, told the BBC. "If the BBC loses that, it's over."

    The widening scandal also had implications on the other side of the Atlantic: Mark Thompson, until recently the man in charge of the organization, takes over as CEO of The New York Times on Monday.

    Thompson's successor as Director General, George Entwistle, resigned Saturday -- taking the blame for an editorial blunder in which flagship BBC program “Newsnight” aired false child sex abuse allegations against a former politician.

    On Monday, Helen Boaden, the BBC’s director of news and current affairs, and her deputy Steve Mitchell, “stepped aside,” the BBC’s media correspondent Torin Douglas reported.


    The BBC's press office said it could not yet confirm the report but the BBC said on its own news website that there would be an announcement later in the day.

    The BBC faces police and other investigations into claims that hundreds of people, some as young as 12, were sexually abused over the course of decades by one of their top personalities, the late Jimmy Savile.

    It is also facing awkward questions over how the same "Newsnight" program chose not to air a report last year that investigated complaints against Savile. 

    Payout
    The BBC's governing body confirmed that Entwistle would get a payout of $715,000. It said the settlement took into consideration that Entwistle would continue working on BBC business, including two inquiries in the child abuse scandal.

    The U.K. government quickly signaled its displeasure at the payout, with minister Maria Miller saying: "This is a large amount of money, and tough to justify considering the circumstances of Mr. Entwistle's departure."

    BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned on Saturday as the BBC spiraled further into scandal over its coverage of two separate sex abuse cases – one, a cover up, and the other, a possible wrongful accusation. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    John Whittingdale, chairman of the House of Commons committee on culture, media and sport, said he was surprised by the settlement and has sought an explanation.

    Sweeping child abuse scandal shakes BBC and other UK institutions

    “My immediate reaction is that it cannot be justified but I will want to hear exactly why they think it is appropriate. ... I think almost everybody hearing this news will say 'how can somebody who has had to leave in these circumstances, as a result of a serious failure, nevertheless get a whole year's salary,'” Whittingdale said.

    Opposition politician Harriet Harman said the payout “looked like a reward for failure,” according to a BBC report.

    The BBC said Entistle's contract stipulated that he receive six months' salary, but that sum was doubled in order to ensure a speedy departure and transition.

    Former minister David Mellor has criticized Entwistle as having the "leadership skills of Winnie the Pooh," according to The Telegraph.

    Incoming New York Times chief in spotlight
    Thompson, the new CEO of the New York Times, said he did not know about the nature of the investigation by "Newsnight" into Savile, and had no involvement in the decision to drop the report, which occurred while he was director general.

    BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned Saturday after the network wrongly implicated a 90-year-old politician in a child sex-abuse scandal. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

    He later said he had a "chance meeting" with a journalist who mentioned the Newsnight investigation into Savile, but said he had not been told any of the details or the scale of the problem.

    Complete Europe coverage on NBCNews.com

    Entwistle's departure and his acceptance of responsibility for editorial decisions as director general, adds pressure to any evaluation of Thompson's role at the BBC and whether he was ultimately accountable for the shelving of the Savile report.

    Thompson did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Entwistle's resignation. Earlier, he declined to be interviewed about his plans for the New York Times, Reuters reported.

    'Auntie'
    The BBC, celebrating its 90th anniversary, is affectionately known in Britain as "Auntie," and respected around much of the world.

    But with 22,000 staff working at eight national TV channels, 50 radio stations and an extensive Internet operation, critics say it is hampered by a complex and overly bureaucratic and hierarchical management structure.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    Funded by an annual license fee levied on all TV viewers, the BBC has also long been resented by its commercial rivals, who argue it has an unfair advantage and distorts the market.

    Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid gleefully reported Entwistle's departure with the headline "Bye Bye Chump."

    Murdoch, whose own News Corp. is at the center of a recent phone-hacking scandal, was watching from afar.

    “BBC mess gives Cameron golden opportunity properly to reorganize great public broadcaster,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Sweeping child abuse scandal shakes BBC and other British institutions

    BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned on Saturday as the BBC spiraled further into scandal over its coverage of two separate sex abuse cases – one, a cover up, and the other, a possible wrongful accusation. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    By Keir Simmons, NBC News

    The director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation, George Entwistle, resigned Saturday after only 54 days in the role -  the latest to be caught in the wake of a child sex-abuse scandal that has thrown the 90-year-old publicly funded behemoth and other U.K. institutions into deepening turmoil.

    The scandal, which began with allegations against a single former BBC employee, has since engulfed hospitals, children’s homes, even the police.

    It also poses questions for Mark Thompson, Entwistle's immediate predecessor, who on Monday becomes chief executive of The New York Times.

    For an entire week, one of the BBC's key news shows suggested a leading Conservative party politician, who wasn’t named, had been involved in the rape of a young boy in Wales decades ago. The man accused denied it; the victim himself now says it was a case of mistaken identity.

    Many networks ran interviews with the victim -- one even asked whether a pedophile network had been protected by a masonic conspiracy. Did a judge who led an early inquiry into the abuse at a North Wales children’s home deliberately hide the names of famous or influential abusers?

    Max Nash / AP

    The BBC Director General, George Entwistle, announces his resignation from the BBC outside New Broadcasting House in central London, Saturday Nov. 10.

    In front of 1 million television viewers, a morning TV host handed a list of alleged pedophiles to the British Prime Minister David Cameron live on air. That list, allegedly including the names of other senior politicians, was compiled based on unsubstantiated Internet rumors. 

    The revelation that all of this was a mistake is once again causing Britain's media organizations to question their own values, only months after news of newspaper phone-hacking. It has filled Britain with outrage, astonishment and self-doubt. 

    The scandal had begun with separate claims that BBC - one of the most respected brands in journalism worldwide - had failed to expose the late BBC children's television personality and fundraiser, Jimmy Savile, as a pedophile even though it had interviewed several victims who made allegations against the star. 

    It’s now clear those allegations are well founded. Yet the same BBC program, 'Newsnight', that shelved the original and apparently accurate Savile story was the first to broadcast the latest false allegations. 

    'Newsnight' has apologized on air for its mistake, another inquiry has been launched, and the program has temporarily suspended all its investigatory work. On Saturday, Entwistle, who took his post in September, resigned in response to the growing scandal after a humiliating interview on the BBC’s own flagship radio news program, 'Today'. The BBC is in crisis.

    BBC boss Entwistle quits amid turmoil over network's child sex abuse scandal

    On Sunday, the head of the BBC's governing body - former Thatcher-era government minister Lord Patten - admitted the issue of public trust in BBC journalism was paramount, and said a "thorough, radical, structural overhaul" of the organization was now necessary.

    Savile had been a British institution, presenting TV shows during the 1970s and '80s that attracted huge audiences. Now police investigators suspect that he was abusing hundreds of children, even on BBC property.

    One man described how, at the age of 9, he went to be part of the audience for the Savile show "Jim’ll Fix It." He says Savile abused him in a dressing room.

    “He put his hand on my knee and started touching me,” the man said in an interview.  “And grabbed my hand and forced it on top of his trousers. I was absolutely petrified.”

    The allegations became public only weeks after the departure of Entwistle's predecessor, Mark Thompson, who starts his job as NYT chief executive on Monday.

    In a statement last month, quoted by The New York Times, Thompson said, “During my time as director general of the BBC, I never heard any allegations or received any complaints about Jimmy Savile.”

    Lewis Whyld / AP

    Jimmy Savile is shown in a March 2008 file photo.

    But NBC News has spoken to one of the journalists who broke the Savile story. He says he called Thompson’s office in May and outlined the allegations to his personal assistant.

    “I absolutely remember saying it,” says Miles Goslett. “I always felt it extraordinary that no senior people in the BBC including Mark Thompson as director general addressed this issue.”

    When asked about Goslett’s allegations, the BBC sent NBC News a prepared statement regarding Thompson’s knowledge of the affair:

    “Mark Thompson has repeatedly made clear he had no personal knowledge of the allegations. While Ms. Cecil recalls Mr Goslett telephoning her to complain about a Freedom of Information request she does not recall that he mentioned the nature of the allegations against Savile." (Click here for the BBC’s full statements on the affair )

    Jessica Cecil is the head of the director general's office.

    This week NBC News approached Thompson for an interview, after a lecture he gave at Oxford University. Thompson declined, saying he wanted to wait for the outcome of that BBC inquiry.

    But whatever its conclusions, the implications for the BBC are already becoming clear. Trust in the institution had dropped from 62 percent in 2009 to 47 percent last week, according to a poll conducted by one of the BBC’s own radio stations.

    It is not alone. This scandal has rocked people’s faith in many of Britain’s institutions and left a country questioning itself and its elite.

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  • BBC boss Entwistle quits amid turmoil over network's child sex abuse scandal

    BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned Saturday after the network wrongly implicated a 90-year-old politician in a child sex-abuse scandal. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    LONDON -- BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned Saturday after saying the broadcaster should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal that has thrown the 90-year-old state-funded broadcaster into turmoil.


    Entwistle, just two months into the job, has faced widespread criticism since a rival broadcaster carried charges last month that a former BBC star, the late Jimmy Savile, was one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders.

    Entwistle's comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 "Newsnight" TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by the politician. The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on one, who Friday issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue.

    Messham then said he had been mistaken about his abuser's identity and apologized to the politician, prompting fury over the BBC's decision to air the report and the suspension of investigative programs at "Newsnight."

    Speaking outside the BBC center in London on Saturday, Entwistle said he had taken the decision "in the light of the unacceptable journalistic standards of the "Newsnight" film broadcast on Friday 2nd November" because he was editor-in-chief.

    "I have decided that the honorable thing to do is to step down from the post of director general," he said. "The wholly exceptional events of the past few weeks have led me to conclude that the BBC should appoint a new leader."

    BBC Director of Audio and Music Tim Davie was appointed BBC's acting director general following Entwistle’s resignation.

    Accepting Entwistle's resignation, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten said: "This is undoubtedly one of the saddest evenings of my public life. At the heart of the BBC is its role as a trusted global news organization. As the editor-in-chief of that organization, George has very honorably offered us his resignation because of the unacceptable mistakes -- the unacceptable shoddy journalism -- which has caused us so much controversy."

    Earlier Saturday, Entwistle told BBC radio, "We should not have put out a film that was so fundamentally wrong. What happened here is completely unacceptable."

    Carl Court / AFP - Getty Images file

    BBC Director General George Entwistle, speaks to the media after attending an October Commons culture committee in central London.

    British comic Freddie Starr arrested in Savile abuse case

    But Enwistle's insistence that he was not aware of the program before it was broadcast — saying in hindsight he wished the matter had been referred to him — had drawn incredulity from politicians and media watchers wondering how he could have allowed a second botched handling of a high-profile child sex-abuse story so soon after the broadcaster was pitched into crisis over allegations against Savile.

    "The level of failure of management at every level within the BBC, up to and including the director general, is just extraordinary," 
    John Whittingdale, chairman of parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told Reuters.

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    The scandal around Savile, who died last year and who is alleged to have sexually abused many young people, put the BBC and its premier investigative program "Newsnight" on the firing line after it emerged the program had decided to shelve its own report into allegations against Savile.

    Hundreds hundreds of people are coming forward to report abuse dating back over several decades by Savile, a household name in Britain, and others.

    Lawyers representing some of the victims have said their clients indicated an organized pedophile ring involving celebrities existed at the BBC during the height of Savile's fame in the 1970s and 1980s.

    "Newsnight" pulled a planned expose of Savile shortly after his death last year, and the BBC went ahead with tribute shows.

    Furor over that decision was reignited when the same program aired the Nov. 2 report about alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s.

    Entwistle's full statement:

    "In the light of the fact that the Director-General is also the Editor-in-Chief and ultimately responsible for all content; and in the light of the unacceptable journalistic standards of the Newsnight film broadcast on Friday 2nd November; I have decided that the honorable thing to do is to step down from the post of Director-General.

    "When appointed to the role, with 23 years' experience as a producer and leader at the BBC, I was confident the Trustees had chosen the best candidate for the post, and the right person to tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead. However the wholly exceptional events of the past few weeks have led me to conclude that the BBC should appoint a new leader.

    "To have been the Director-General of the BBC even for a short period, and in the most challenging of circumstances, has been a great honor.

    "While there is understandable public concern over a number of issues well covered in the media - which I'm confident will be addressed by the Review process - we must not lose sight of the fact that the BBC is full of people of the greatest talent and the highest integrity. That's what will continue to make it the finest broadcaster in the world."

    This story includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

    For 20 years, Jimmy Savile's children's show was a highlight of Saturday night family TV on the BBC. But now, British police say 300 people have come forward with claims that Savile abused them during his 60-year broadcasting career. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.

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  • BBC reports allegations that politician abused boys in '70s, '90s -- but doesn't say who

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    The BBC current affairs program "Newsnight" on Friday night aired allegations that a senior Conservative politician from the Margaret Thatcher era had sexually abused boys in the 1970s and 1990s as part of a scandal involving children's homes in North Wales.


    But the BBC stopped short of naming the politician, bringing a torrent of tweets criticizing its report.

    Earlier Friday, The Telegraph newspaper reported that  former Newsnight presenter Michael Crick tweeted: "'Senior political figure' due to be accused tonight by BBC of being paedophile denies allegations + tells me he'll issue libel writ agst BBC."

    A subsequent tweet read: "The senior political figure due to be accused paedophile activity by BBC tonight tells me that he still hasn't heard from them for response."

    In a later post on its website, the BBC said the allegations arose from a scandal alleging child sexual abuse at children's homes in North Wales in the 1970s and 1980s that started coming to light in the early 1990s. The allegations led to investigations and a government-ordered inquiry, the 2000 Waterhouse Tribunal.

    In the Newsnight segment, a man said he had been repeatedly abused by the politician in the late 1970s. Steve Messham claimed that he had been abused "more than a dozen times" and that when he finally went to the police, "I was called a liar." He called for a new investigation. 

    Newsnight said a man claiming that he also had been abused by the politician had been interviewed for BBC radio in 2000. Newsnight said it had not been able to find the man for its report, but it provided an unusual dramatization of the man's radio interview.

    According to the dramatization, the man said he had gone to North Wales police but had been told there wasn't enough evidence.

    British comic Freddie Starr arrested in Savile abuse case

    Police believe former TV star Jimmy Savile, a national icon, may have been one of Britain's worst pedophile offenders. Some of Savile's alleged 300 victims had appeared on his TV shows. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    On Thursday, British police arrested comedian Freddie Starr as part of an investigation triggered by allegations that the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile sexually abused hundreds of children, according to media reports.

    The allegations have shaken Britain's state-funded broadcaster, with hundreds of people now coming forward to report abuse dating back over several decades by Savile, a household name in Britain.

    Lawyers representing some of the victims have said their clients indicated an organized pedophile ring involving celebrities existed at the BBC during the height of Savile's fame in the 1970s and 1980s.

    'A steep fall' for BBC as child sex abuse scandal rocks the UK

    On Sunday, police arrested glam rock singer and convicted sex offender Gary Glitter, born Paul Gadd, as part of the Savile investigation. He was released on bail.

    BBC Director General George Entwistle and his predecessor, Mark Thompson, incoming chief executive officer of the New York Times Co., have come under heavy criticism for their handling of suspicions about Savile.

    A BBC investigation into Savile was dropped last year, when Thompson was at the helm. It took a rival network, ITV, to uncover the scandal. Thompson has said he did not know about the program's investigation and had no involvement in the decision to axe the report.

    It’s still not clear why the well-regarded show "Newsnight" dropped the investigation, and there is no suggestion that either Thompson or Entwistle were involved in a cover up. But, on top of the BBC’s failure to stop Savile, its shelving of his investigation has shocked the UK. The BBC’s journalism is fiercely independent; its own journalists have done much to make the Savile story headline news, but many of the questions are about the competency of BBC's management rather than individual reporters and producers.

    NBC's Keir Simmons and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • British comic Freddie Starr arrested in Savile abuse case

    For 20 years, Jimmy Savile's children's show was a highlight of Saturday night family TV on the BBC. But now, British police say 300 people have come forward with claims that Savile abused them during his 60-year broadcasting career. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.

    By Reuters

    LONDON -- British police arrested comedian Freddie Starr on Thursday as part of an investigation triggered by allegations that the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile sexually abused hundreds of children, according to media reports.

    Photoshot via Getty Images, file

    Freddie Starr.


    Police said in a statement they had arrested a man in his 60s on suspicion of sex offenses. The man was identified by Sky News and ITV News as Starr, who earlier had offered to talk to police.

    The allegations have shaken Britain's state-funded broadcaster, with hundreds of people now coming forward to report abuse dating back over several decades by Savile, a household name in Britain.

    Lawyers representing some of the victims have said their clients indicated an organized pedophile ring involving celebrities existed at the BBC during the height of Savile's fame in the 1970s and 1980s.

    Scandal
    On Sunday, police arrested glam rock singer and convicted sex offender Gary Glitter, born Paul Gadd, as part of the Savile investigation. He was released on bail.

    Latest allegation: BBC star took teen girls to hospital staff rooms

    BBC Director General George Entwistle and his predecessor, Mark Thompson, incoming chief executive officer of the New York Times Co., have come under heavy criticism for their handling of suspicions about Savile.

    At a recent parliamentary hearing, Entwistle rejected claims that BBC bosses tried to hide allegations against Savile or suppressed an inquiry by one of their own news programs.

    Thompson, who was still director general in late 2011 when BBC's Newsnight shelved a report investigating the allegations against Savile, has said he did not know about the program's investigation and had no involvement in the decision to ax the report.

    The scandal has attracted attention in the United States, where Thompson's appointment at The New York Times has been questioned by senior journalists at the newspaper, who have accused him of involvement in a cover-up to protect his former employer's reputation.

    Police believe former TV star Jimmy Savile, a national icon, may have been one of Britain's worst pedophile offenders. Some of Savile's alleged 300 victims had appeared on his TV shows. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    Thompson has said he had approached his new employers to explain his role at the BBC and why he had not dealt with such an issue, despite being the director general and editor-in-chief of the world-renowned organization.

    Prime Minister David Cameron has said the sex abuse allegations leave the BBC and other institutions with serious questions to answer.

    The revelations have shocked fans of the once highly popular Savile, who died last year at the age of 84.

    Related stories:

    Estate frozen
    In a sign of preparation for claims, his 4.3 million pound ($6.93 million) estate has been frozen in response to the allegations.

    Starr, 69, has publicly denied one allegation linked to a show Savile presented in the 1970s.

    "I'm being persecuted by the press saying that I have been with underage girls and I haven't - never will I go with underage girls," Starr told the BBC last month.

    "I'm totally innocent. Totally innocent. I would never go with a girl like that ... I hope they question me, I want to clear my name. I've got nothing to hide."

    The comedian, singer and impressionist was the subject of one of Britain's best-known tabloid newspaper headlines: "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster."

    The fictitious story in the top-selling Sun newspaper involved Starr eating a woman's pet hamster after she refused to make him a sandwich.

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    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • New Savile sex allegation: BBC star took teen girls to hospital staff rooms

    For 20 years, Jimmy Savile's children's show was a highlight of Saturday night family TV on the BBC. But now, British police say 300 people have come forward with claims that Savile abused them during his 60-year broadcasting career. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports
    LONDON -- Fresh allegations of sexual misconduct by late BBC celebrity Jimmy Savile emerged Wednesday.
     

    Terry Pratt, a former hospital porter at Leeds General Infirmary, told the BBC that Savile, a former BBC radio DJ and television host, would arrive in the 1980s with teenage girls, often two at a time, during early-morning hours and be given the key to nurses’ rooms. They would leave before dawn, Pratt said.
     
     
    The girls seemed "star-struck" and "not very streetwise," he told the BBC, which has come under a judge’s scrutiny for a culture and practices that allegedly enabled sexual misconduct to go undetected for years. Savile hosted the “Top of the Pops” music show and his family-oriented “Jim'll Fix It” prime-time show.
     
    When asked why he did not report Savile's alleged hospital visits at the time, Pratt said: "We daren't. ... We were in awe of him, to be honest."
     
    Police are probing claims that Savile, who died in October 2011 at age 84, abused about 300 young people. He was accused of using his fame to coerce teens into having sex with him in his car, his camper and even his BBC dressing rooms.
     
    Police arrested 1970s pop star Gary Glitter earlier this week as part of their investigation. He was held for 10 hours and released on bail for a mid-December court hearing.
     

    R. Poplowski / Getty Images

    Jimmy Savile in 1973.

    Related stories:
    Authorities are questioning how suspicions about Savile were handled at BBC by Director General George Entwistle and his predecessor, Mark Thompson, the new CEO of the New York Times Co.
     
    Savile is accused of possible sexual abuse of patients at three hospitals for which he raised funds: Leeds, Broadmoor and Stoke Mandeville, the Guardian newspaper reported.
     
    Leeds, in a statement reported by Reuters on Wednesday, said, “We continue to be shocked by each new allegation. It is important that they are investigated properly."

    Some of Savile's alleged 300 victims had appeared on his TV shows. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    The porter’s allegations came a day after a former royal aide said Savile's behavior on visits to Prince Charles' residence, St. James' Palace, had aroused "concern and suspicion."
     
    Dickie Arbiter told the Guardian that Savile would greet young women working at the palace by "rubbing his lips all the way up their arms."
     
    A ex-patient at Broadmoor told the tabloid the Sun she was put in solitary confinement for six months after telling a nurse that Savile had sexually assaulted her.
     
    The nurse reportedly accused her of "bizarre made-up thoughts."
     
    Reuters contributed to this report.

     

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  • 'A steep fall' for BBC as child sex abuse scandal rocks the UK

    For 20 years, Jimmy Savile's children's show was a highlight of Saturday night family TV on the BBC. But now, British police say 300 people have come forward with claims that Savile abused them during his 60-year broadcasting career. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.

    By Keir Simmons, NBC News

    LONDON -- The child sex abuse scandal engulfing Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC, has been producing disturbing headlines in the UK for almost a month, and the signs are this is just the beginning. Since the scandal broke, 300 victims have told police that they were abused by BBC TV host Jimmy Savile, suggesting this number may yet rise.

    Savile hosted TV shows, worked for charities and was even awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II. More than just a TV personality, he was a national institution. He was perhaps Britain’s answer to Dick Clark, hosting the UK’s equivalent of “American Bandstand,” the very British sounding “Top of the Pops.”

    Savile died last year, but it is another institution, the one he worked for, that has become as much the focus of this scandal. The BBC says new allegations have been made against nine current BBC staff or contributors since the revelations about Savile. Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament: "These allegations do leave many institutions, perhaps particularly the BBC, with serious questions to answer."

    It is difficult to exaggerate how fundamental the BBC is to British culture. It has the highest-rated radio stations. It runs one of the biggest TV channels. Its Web pages are the most-read. Its news is the most trusted. The BBC even has its own "sound" – a kind of posh, but not too posh, monotone adopted by all newsreaders. British children grow up with it.

    Jimmy Savile abuse scandal stuns Britain: a who's who primer

    Now, it is accused of turning its back while children were allegedly abused on its premises by a BBC star and others. One BBC show, “Jim’ll Fix It,” even invited children to write in and ask to be on TV. The access to legal minors has prompted comparisons to Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. It’s a scandal that is raising questions about the cult of celebrity and about how large prestigious institutions can offer pedophiles a place to hide.

    One seemingly inexplicable aspect of what happened is that so many people now appear to have been aware that it was happening. In interviews, Savile was asked about whether he was a pedophile and denied it. Comedians told jokes about it. Yet for decades no one did anything to stop it. Perhaps all this is not just about the British Broadcasting Corporation but about British culture itself.

    BBC ripped for handling of sex abuse scandal tied to former host

    The BBC’s journalistic culture is also being questioned. The former director-general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, is soon to be chief executive of the New York Times. Under his leadership, and that of new BBC director-general George Entwistle, a BBC investigation into Savile was dropped last year. It took a rival network, ITV, to uncover the scandal.

    It’s still not clear why the well-regarded show “Newsnight” dropped the investigation, and there is no suggestion that either Thompson or Entwistle were involved in a cover up. But, on top of the BBC’s failure to stop Savile, its shelving of his investigation has shocked the UK. The BBC’s journalism is fiercely independent; its own journalists have done much to make the Savile story headline news, but many of the questions are about the competency of BBC's management rather than individual reporters and producers.

    Police believe former TV star Jimmy Savile, a national icon, may have been one of Britain's worst pedophile offenders. Some of Savile's alleged 300 victims had appeared on his TV shows. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    The alleged abuse happened many years ago, in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. And the BBC is not the only organization involved. For example, Savile was allowed into children’s hospital wards. The police were asked to investigate on a number of occasions but failed to bring charges. What makes the allegations all the more disturbing to many Britons is that the BBC is funded through a tax paid by every British family with a television.

    The BBC has faced serious crises before. In 2003, it was investigated after a controversial broadcast about the Iraq war that led to the suicide of a leading scientist. The public inquiry was so critical it lead to the resignation of the BBC’s then director-general. Ten years on, the BBC is still thriving. But it’s hard to imagine a more toxic claim than the allegation that the British Broadcasting Corporation allowed children to be abused by its employees. As another famous British bastion of journalism, The Economist, puts it this week, “From the height of so much esteem, it is a steep fall.”

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