Since the revelations of Jimmy Savile’s prolific sex offending came to light last year there has been a palpable effort on the part of the government and much of the media (most notably the BBC, where Savile worked – and abused children – for decades) to brush the issue under the carpet. The disturbing implications as to how Savile was able to operate unimpeded and his connections to rich and powerful people, have been put aside in favour of focusing media attention on other minor celebrities and has-beens and the occasional dead politician. While there have been hints pointing to paedophile rings linked to members of the government – notably after Tom Watson MP raised the issue in Parliament – few mainstream journalists have conducted a thorough investigation, and the idea of organized networks of child abusers reaching into the upper echelons of society is rarely considered a possibility.
Even more outlandish is the notion that some of these paedophiles are carrying out Satanic ritual abuse on their victims – something so shocking and far-fetched that it hardly bares contemplating. But information is coming to light which suggests that, far from being a nightmarish fantasy, devil-worshipping ritual abuse could be a disturbing reality.
On the 19th January, the Mirror ran a story titled, “Pervert MP Cyril Smith was pals with satanic child sex monster.” outlining how deceased paedophile MP Cyril Smith was involved in satanic rituals and the rape of children as young as 2. Victim Michael Roberts, 40, provided shocking details of the rituals, set up by his stepdad Michael Horgan, a man who became known as the High Priest of Satan. Like-minded paedophiles, including the knighted MP Smith, attended events where young girls and boys were repeatedly raped while being filmed – some of the “parties” took place on Saddleworth Moor, where child killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley had buried their victims. Evidence of Smith’s paedophilia was presented to the authorities in 1970, 1998 and 1999 but charges were never brought – as with Jimmy Savile, who’s activities were brought to the attention of the police on numerous occasions during his lifetime, it was only after his death that Smith was exposed as a paedophile.
Not only were Savile and Smith both able to operate as prolific paedophiles, both were knighted (perhaps a hint as to how they managed to avoid prosecution throughout their lives – Greater Manchester Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have both claimed there was “overwhelming evidence” against Smith) and were close friends for decades. And Savile, it seems, may have also been involved in Satanic-based ritual abuse, conducted in the basements of hospitals such as Stoke Mandeville, where Savile was a volunteer porter and fundraiser between 1965 and 1988. Dr Valerie Sinason recounted the experience of the victim to the Sunday Express:
“She recalled being led into a room that was filled with candles on the lowest level of the hospital, somewhere that was not regularly used by staff. Several adults were there, including Jimmy Savile who, like the others, was wearing a robe and a mask. She recognised him because of his distinctive voice and the fact that his blond hair was protruding from the side of the mask. He was not the leader but he was seen as important because of his fame. She was molested, raped and beaten and heard words that sounded like ‘Ave Satanas’, a Latinised version of ‘Hail Satan’, being chanted. There was no mention of any other child being there and she cannot remember how long the attack lasted but she was left extremely frightened and shaken.”
Additional accounts emerged in the same paper a few days later, detailing the ordeal of a 13 year old girl who was tied to an altar during a black mass at a secret venue. “Savile then climbed on to the table and raped me. Others around him called out Satan’s name and laughed hysterically and were worked up into a frenzy.” During her horrific ordeal, one of the devil worshippers sneered: “You definitely fixed this one, Jim!”
Perhaps understandably, there are many who react to these allegations with incredulity, accusing those who make such allegations of suffering from delusions or out to cash in on Savile’s notoriety (although the recent Express story notes that the victim received no money for her story). An examination of Jimmy Savile’s life, however, indicates that these allegations might be closer to the truth than most people realise. In an interview with Esquire – reported here in the Daily Mail – Savile stated, “I am also the eminence grise: the grey, shadowy figure in the background. The thing about me is I get things done and I work under cover.”
Here is an overview of some of Savile’s connections:
- For a children’s television presenter, Savile had close relationships with a number of prominent politicians, including Prime Ministers. Correspondence between Savile and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – heavily redacted by civil servants in the wake of the child abuse revelations – reveal that Savile and Thatcher met frequently as he sought funding for Stoke Mandeville hospital, where many of his abuses took place. He was also a frequent visitor to Chequers, spending New Year’s Eve with the Thatcher family on a number of occasions. Savile told Esquire, “I knew the real woman and the real woman was something else.”
- In 1971 Jimmy Savile joined Lord Longford’s Commission on Pornography, along with six peers, an archbishop, three bishops, three professors, Cliff Richard and Gyles Brandreth. Longford was lampooned by the media for touring sex clubs in Denmark, but perhaps more controversial was his unsuccessful campaign for the early release of child killer Myra Hindley. While it is quite possible that Longford and the Commission knew nothing about Savile’s offending at the time, he nevertheless seems an odd choice. Longford’s niece Harriet Harman faced controversy when it emerged she once advocated the watering down of child pornography laws during her time as legal officer for the National Council for Civil Liberties (known today as Liberty).
- From 1974 to 1984 the UK-based pro-paedophilia group the Paedophile Information Exchange (P.I.E.) operated, affiliated with the NCCL. An open letter to Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, indicated that Savile was a known member of this organization. In his call for a thorough investigation of paedophile rings linked to No. 10 Downing Street, Tom Watson cited the investigation and conviction of Peter Righton, a founding member of P.I.E. and the former director of education at the National Institute for Social Work, and other investigators have cited his links to an assistant bishop, artists, aristocrats and public school teachers in a network which had infiltrated all 12 of the children’s homes run by Islington council. If Savile’s connection to P.I.E. is true then his involvement in this network is highly likely – when the Righton investigation was closed, former Det Ch Supt Mike Hames (more from him later), head of Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Squad wrote: “We have only touched the tip of a huge national and international problem.” The BBC series Inside Story produced a detailed documentary on the case: