BBC
Jimmy Savile while presenting Top of the Pops
The Dame Janet Smith report into Jimmy Savile states that members of staff working at Top of the Pops chose to ignore complaints that Savile had sexually assaulted members of the audience.
The report, published on Thursday morning, says the BBC failed to investigate allegations that young girls were being picked up for sexual purposes on Top Of The Pops on a routine basis.
Smith's report recalls a particular incident whereby a complaint made to a staff member working on the show about Savile abusing a girl while stood on a podium resulted in the girl being evicted from the building.
The full extract reads:
"In Chapter 5, I have recounted two serious indecent assaults which took place on Savile's podium during the recording of the show. Both of these resulted in an attempt to complain to a member of staff. One, C16, was assaulted by Savile when she had been asked to go onto the podium while Savile introduced an act. He put his hand under her open coat, unzipped her hot pants at the back and put his hand inside her knickers. She was upset and jumped off the podium. When she complained to a member of BBC staff, a man with a clipboard, probably the floor manager or his assistant, she was ejected from the building."
The report goes on to say"Several witnesses told me that an incident of that type should have been recorded in the daily log and should have been 579 investigated. So far as I am aware, this did not happen."
Another extract details a similar case, which took place in November 1976, in which staff working on the hit show reacted to a complaint regarding Savile by telling the victim that the presenter was just "fooling about."
The paragraph reads:
"The assault took place on a podium during a recording and its effect on B8 can be seen on camera. Although B8 does not show any visible sign of distress, it is clear that Savile is doing something to her and that he thinks it is funny. Her description of what he was doing (he had put his hand underneath her bottom and was keeping it there and "fiddling about") is entirely consistent with what one can see. When the song was over and B8 was free to move about, she 580 spoke to a BBC man standing near a camera. She has a vague recollection that he was wearing a headset round his neck. When she told him what had happened, he told her not to worry, that it was just Jimmy fooling about. Mr Bishop, the director of the show on that occasion, told us that, at the time, he was not aware that anything untoward had occurred."
Dame Janet Smith adds:
"What is particularly striking about this complaint is the reaction of the BBC man to whom B8 complained. He clearly believed B8 when she described what Savile had done; indeed, it does not appear to have come as any surprise. Given this, I do not think that he would have recorded the incident or reported it upwards."
The full report can be found here.