A prominent Australian entertainer has been arrested on suspicion of sexual offences as part of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse investigation, the Metropolitan Police said.
The 82-year-old is one of 11 people arrested so far under Operation Yewtree — the Met’s investigation into alleged offending by the former disc jockey and “others”.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said last night that the man, who has not been named, was interviewed under caution on November 29th last year, five days after a search warrant was executed at an address in Berkshire.
He has been bailed to a date in May pending further inquiries.
The latest arrest came after former BBC producer Wilfred De’ath, who was released without charge on Monday, said the police operation had “gone too far”. Mr De’ath, who is in his 70s and has always denied wrongdoing, was held by Yewtree detectives in Cambridgeshire on November 11th. He said officers burst into his flat and told him an actress had alleged he sexually assaulted her in 1965. He later acknowledged police were “only doing their job” but said the operation was “getting silly” and suggested officers were over-compensating now because they failed to get Savile at the time.
A report released earlier this year revealed the disgraced TV presenter was one of the UK’s “most prolific known sexual predators” and said his victims included an eight-year-old boy and a seriously ill teenager.
According to the Metropolitan Police and NSPCC, his reign of sexual abuse spanned 54 years. He now has 214 criminal offences recorded against his name, including 34 rapes. Some 450 people have alleged sexual abuse against Savile since the initial claims emerged in early October.
Publicity surrounding the case led to a series of further allegations made against other well-known figures in the entertainment industry. Other suspects arrested under Operation Yewtree include pop star Gary Glitter and comedians Freddie Starr and Jim Davidson. They deny wrongdoing.
PA