The Jimmy Savile situation - Another Jimmy In Cuffs. Who Next, Jimmy Hill?

[Jason Thompson]

Michael Jackson was accused of sexual abuse of children twice: once by a young boy and his father, and once as a result of a sequence in the Martin Bashir documentary that showed him with a young boy. In both cases the allegations were found to be without foundation. In the first case the boy was found to be lying when he gave detailed descriptions of Jackson's anatomy that did not match up to Jackson's actual anatomy at all, and it was clear the father simply wanted to extort money. The boy's mother never supported the accusations. In the second it was found that the children who did sleep over at his house were in no way abused and it was all quite innocent, if unusual. So, Jackson was found to be falsely accused on the one occasion a supposed victim came forward, and was found totally innocent of wrongdoing when an investigation was conducted regarding a later incident. No-one else came forward despite the massive publicity at the time of each incident. Jackson has been subject to a legal investigation and acquitted of any wrongdoing.

Hundreds of people have come forward claiming to have been abused by Jimmy Savile. This is just what you expect to see in a serial abuser case, with floodgates opening once the initial accusation becomes public. That adds far more weight to the allegations in the Savile case than there ever was in the Michael Jackson cases. The fact that Savile is dead and therefore cannot be convicted or acquitted in a court of law does not mean that the results of the police investigations will be less significant. If the accusations are found to be without foundation then that will be the result announced, and it will be no less significant than a trial verdict.