Jimmy Savile’s creepy plea for schoolgirls to ‘go to at half hourly intervals’ revealed
Calls have been made for a fresh probe into Jimmy Savile’s activities after a “red-flag” school magazine interview emerged.
Mark Williams-Thomas, the ex-police officer who first publicly exposed the late BBC DJ as a sex offender in a TV investigation, claims the monster was more active in Scotland than many people realise. He claimed the notorious paedophile had regular contact with schools and other places where young people gather.
The investigator said revelations of the beast’s visits to Lochaber High School in Fort William should be a “wake-up call” to the authorities. He claimed Savile could have carried out hidden attacks in the area.
Mark Williams -Thomas(Image: Humphrey Nemar/Daily star)
The former cop spoke up after a 1969 school magazine interview with senior schoolgirls at Lochaber High School was rediscovered. In the chat, Savile made “creepy” remarks to four sixth form pupils with no teacher present in a meeting room at the school, the Daily Record reports.
Mr Williams-Thomas said: “In the light of the new information I would call upon the authorities to check their records and communicate with the school to see if there are any outstanding concerns that were never dealt with properly at the time.”
Savile was asked by the girls in the magazine interview: “Do you have any particular message for the pupils of Lochaber High school?” He replied: “Yes, if any of the girls feel their education is incomplete they can come to me at half hourly intervals and if any of the boys feel their education is incomplete they can jump in the river.”
Jimmy Savile being interviewed by female pupils at Lochaber High School for the school magazine(Image: Supplied)
In the magazine interview Savile is asked to name his favourite artists, to which he replied: “The Luton Girls Choir. All of them.” At the time the choir were household names and featured single girls and young women aged 12 to 23 who performed across the UK.
Savile, who died in 2011, is considered the most prolific sex offender in UK history, allegedly carrying out hundreds of assaults and rapes over a period of more than 50 years. He was never charged or prosecuted. Savile was a regular visitor to the Lochaber and Fort William area, where he used to holiday, and for 34 years was Chieftain of the Lochaber Highland Games.
After the 1969 visit he made a second visit to Lochaber High School in 1971 for his Radio 1 show Speak-Easy. A former pupil from the late 60s, who unearthed the magazine and is now 72, told the newspaper: “The interview was done at the school in one of the meeting rooms without teachers by four senior female pupils.
Jimmy Savile(Image: PA)
“The chosen students then asked him lots of questions and some of the answers were frightening and nobody reacted to the fact that he was very serious with his answers and even then there should have been a red flag warning.
“Savile visited Fort William quite often because he was clan chief for the local Highland Games and could be seen wandering around the town dressed in a kilt or jogging outfits. He also visited the local hospital and occasionally helped out.” The former pupil came across him at the Games. He added: “He was a very evil man.Somebody should delve deeper into his visits to Fort William.”
In 2012 Mr Williams-Thomas presented the ITV documentary The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which led to Operation Yewtree, the UK-wide police investigation against Savile and other celebrities including Rolf Harris. He claimed Savile’s activities in the Fort William area required further investigation by cops.
Lochaber High School magazine(Image: Supplied)
The expert said: “It would be interesting to see if any complaints were made around that time. It is probably a bit of a wake-up call. If we had these comments made today I’d like to think that the school and people would have been in an uproar.
“There no doubt there are more victims in Scotland. It doesn’t matter that he is dead it still needs investigating. This interview highlights that there is a lot that remains undealt with.
“The thing with Savile is there will still be victims out there who haven’t come forward. They have chosen not to. His legacy of offending remains with so many people. I don’t think we can underestimate the impact he had as an offender across the whole of the UK.
“There are not many that transgress as far and wide as he did from the very south of the country to the very north. But he could get away with it and, to coin a phrase, hide in plain sight. Because of the nature of who he was, people put it down to this guy who was a slightly mad eccentric individual, he chose special places where he could offend.”
Police Scotland said: “We are committed to ensuring that all reports of sexual crime committed against children or young people are thoroughly investigated. We recognise it is often a number of years before victims feel able to report such crimes, and would wish to give reassurance that these reports will be treated seriously regardless of the passage of time or status of the perpetrator.”
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