Now a ‘TV comedy legend’ is being investigated by police from Operation Yewtree, which is pursuing alleged ‘historic’ sex crimes by the famous.
He has been placed ‘under caution’ while they decide whether to arrest him, according to a report yesterday.
The ‘household name’ denies the allegations. I wonder how ‘historic’ they are on this occasion? In another Yewtree investigation, they date from 1966.
Presumably, the crimes alleged are either rape or indecent assault. Serious offences, no doubt about that. Especially if the victims were underage.
But what if you were the victim of a serious assault in the past which was not sexual in character — a mugging, or a savage beating, say, by a famous person which took place in 1966?
Would the police begin proceedings against the celebrity you say was responsible?
A QC friend of mine thinks not. Especially if it’s simply one person’s word against another’s. He suspects Yewtree is a publicity stunt. Outside of old murders solved by new DNA procedures, few, if any, ‘historic’ assault cases are tried.
But sex crimes are more news-worthy than beatings and muggings. Especially if the victims are young girls and the alleged abusers are, or were, famous.
Operation Yewtree began in October 2012 as an investigation into the abuse of young people by the disc jockey Jimmy Savile, who died in 2011. There were 31 allegations of rape against Savile, across seven police jurisdictions.
Commander Peter Spindler of the Metropolitan Police said: ‘Savile’s offending peaked in the Seventies, and what we can show is how he used his position in society to get his sexual gratification.’ As if that was not blindingly obvious at the time!
More...
Television comedy legend in his 70s facing questioning by Savile police over historic allegations of sex abuse
'I'm living a 24/7 nightmare': Celebrity PR guru Max Clifford speaks of the 'black cloud' over his life as he is charged with eleven counts of indecent assault on girls aged 14 to 19 between 1966 and 1985
Rolf Harris 'has been painting every day to cope with the strain of arrest over sex abuse allegations'
Having failed to prosecute Savile while he was alive — despite on several occasions hearing reports of his beastly behaviour — Operation Yewtree is a delayed police response to the scandal, a publicity exercise for the police generally as much as anything else.
But no politician dares question it for fear of being made to appear indifferent to sex crime.
So NOW we await the prosecutions from Yewtree. It’s often difficult to prove guilt in crimes that have taken place months ago. You have to wonder how they’ll do years or decades after the event. Will there be witnesses and / or forensic evidence — or will it simply be the plaintiff’s word against the defendant’s?
Rolf Harris and comic Freddie Starr have both previously been held by officers from Operation Yewtree
If there are convictions, I wonder what the appropriate sentence is for ‘historic’ sex crimes by the famous: custodial sentences for getting away with their crimes for so long — or non–custodial on the basis that the shame of the trial is punishment enough?
What Yewtree is about is a shift in public attitudes towards sex crimes. Savile was able to prey on young women not merely because he was a famous BBC disc jockey. He knew young women then would share the blame for putting themselves in harm’s way. So they’d be less likely to complain.
And, if they did, less likely to be taken seriously.
As for exploiting young girls who came to his BBC shows, of course this was known to senior management. But they spinelessly allowed him to continue to a point which — had they blown the whistle — they would have had as much explaining to do as him.
There will be some real victims among the complainants, I don’t doubt that. And some really seedy types among those they accuse.
But I’m beginning to think the whole Yewtree circus calls to mind the famous observation of Thomas Macaulay: ‘We know of no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodic fits of morality.’
Who will get a real Savaging?
The acid-tongued comedian Paul O’Grady, who once doubled as drag queen Lily Savage, has come out for Miliband, saying: ‘I like Ed very much.’
He told Miliband: ‘We want a leader and we’ll follow you and do what you say. We will fight your detractors. I’ll deal with them on the telly, don’t you worry.’
Public support: The acid-tongued comedian Paul O'Grady, who once doubled as drag queen Lily Savage (pictured), has come out for Miliband, saying: 'I like Ed very much'
Does Paul / Lily mean he’ll use his appearances on TV to promote Miliband and attack his opponents? I imagine that might be a problem at election time, when TV coverage is supposed to be balanced.
On the other hand, the Tories might benefit from Paul / Lily’s attacks on them and his support for Miliband.
Indeed, shouldn’t they organise a Paul / Lily impersonator to applaud at both Miliband and Cameron election rallies?
Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC retires at the end of a five-year term in October, saying it was a ‘huge privilege’. He’s only 50. Good for one more term at least, you’d have thought.
So it looks as if they’ve had enough of him, or him of them, or maybe it’s both. Lawyers’ gossip is that those most likely to succeed him are his deputy, Alison Levitt QC or Nazir Afzal, the Crown Prosecution Service expert on child sexual exploitation. Neither are regarded as brilliant candidates.‘They’re not looking for brilliant — they are looking for women, or minorities,’ says my legal source.
Sir Elton John says he has chosen pop singer Lady Gaga to be godmother to his latest child, Elijah
Defying convention, as always, Sir Elton John says he has chosen pop singer Lady Gaga to be godmother to his latest child, Elijah, born to a surrogate mother in January. She is also godmother to his first son, Zachary.
‘She’s a great role model,’ he told U.S. TV viewers. ‘There is a real simple person there who loves her parents.’
In addition to her godmothering, Lady Gaga is considered a dab hand at fairy godfathering, which is defined in modern dictionaries as ‘a good-looking woman hanging out with gay men’. It takes all kinds...
Giving a verdict on the hoof
Dubai’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, is shocked that his racehorse trainer, Mahmood Al Zarooni, administered anabolic steroids to 15 of his animals, for which the latter has been banned for eight years.
Simon Crisford, manager of Godolphin, the sheik’s racing operation here, says it’s ‘an isolated incident by a reckless person who has shown no respect for horseracing in this country’.
Some (including the Mail’s Jonathan McEvoy) think the British Horse-racing Authority investigation was concluded rather too hastily. And McEvoy wonders: ‘Why did they employ Al Zarooni, given the fact that he had been deputy to trainer Mubarak bin Shafya, who was found guilty of a doping offence in Dubai?’
Moreover, although the sheik was unaware of the goings-on at his Newmarket HQ, McEvoy points out the sheik himself was once banned for six months for riding a horse which had been doped in a Bahrain endurance race.
I wonder if the fact that Sheik Mohammed is extremely important to horseracing in this country had any bearing on the BHA’s quick action.
Danny Cipriani was knocked down when he ran in front of a double-decker bus after a 14-pub outing with friends in Leeds
Rugby star Danny Cipriani, 25, whose companion is TV presenter Kelly Brook, 33, was knocked down when he ran in front of a double-decker bus after a 14-pub outing with friends in Leeds.
A barman who served the group said: ‘They had beer bongs and funnels (for rapid consumption) and spent £200 in 15 minutes. They were stopping traffic and, when I refused to serve three of them, they ran down the road.’
This is the kind of thing I might have done with friends, aged 15, although we did not have access to beer bongs and funnels.
My friend Tommy got plastered once in Huntly, lost all his money and had to walk 20 miles home. En route, he got into two fights and came off the worse in each.
Battered, bleeding and broke, he trudged into our village just as we were going out to play Saturday morning football.
‘A great night out!’ he enthused.
Johnson fatigue
Boris, Jo, Stanley, Rachel: are you suffering from Johnson fatigue?
The first is London Mayor; the second his younger brother, a Tory MP and new head of the No.10 policy unit; the third their father; and the fourth his writer daughter.
Depending on your point of view, they’re either a brilliant family destined to rule Britain, or tireless self- promoters who have networked their way to the top tiers of our national life.
For those with Johnson fatigue, there seems no early prospect of respite.
If the Tories stay in power after the next election, the Johnson influence will be large. If Cameron and Co lose, Boris is bound to contest the leadership. But might he have to run against Jo and face being usurped just as David Miliband was by younger brother Ed?