" I Remember Him Being Shifty and Grinning" : Jimmy Savile 'Abused Schoolgirls in Cathedral Vestry'

Mirror
November 18, 2012

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jimmy-savile-abused-girls-in-catholic-1442642

Sick: Savile 'abused girls in vestry

Attacks: Star waited at Leeds Cathedra

Jimmy Savile abused schoolgirls in the vestry of a Catholic cathedral, new ­testimony claims.

In an appalling new low, the ­disgraced star is said to have lain in wait at a weekly Mass attended by girls aged between five and nine.

An ex-pupil of the school involved, who wishes to remain anonymous, says Savile – given a papal knighthood by the Pope in 1990 – was banned from the cathedral in his home city of Leeds over claims he molested girls there.

The woman says pupils at her nearby primary school, now closed, were told by teachers not to sit near Savile, who always arrived before them when they visited ­Leeds ­Cathedral in the 1960s. She says there were ­rumours at the time that the DJ, whose flat was nearby, abused a young girl in the vestry only yards from unsuspecting priests.

“I remember it so very clearly,” she says. “As we trooped in he would be waiting. He would turn and grin. We were told to sit away from him, because of talk he had taken a girl into the vestry. Despite that, teachers and priests let him stay.

“He was there every week. I remember him being shifty and grinning. I found him creepy.

“We’d all heard the ­rumours about him taking girls into the vestry.

“After a while, he was told he couldn’t stay. It makes me shudder I was so close to him.”

A spokesman for Leeds Cathedral said: “There was a school which took children to the cathedral in the late 60s. But we have no record of any complaint made against Jimmy Savile nor any record of him being banned. Having said that, it is a long time ago. We urge anyone with information to contact the police.”

Police are investigating 300 cases of alleged abuse by Savile. A source said: “Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it does.”

We can also reveal that Savile, who died last October aged 84, kept a room decorated in pink at a London hotel in the 60s. A ex-staff member said the suite at the now-closed Aaland Hotel in Bloomsbury had “pink wallpaper, carpet, bedspreads and a pink toilet.”

The woman, now 68, said: “Groups of girls would arrive with their satchels. He picked one out, saying: ‘I’ll have you’. I have no doubt that he was sexually assaulting them.”

There is no suggestion the owner or management knew the alleged abuse was taking place

Meanwhile, an ITV show will be aired on Wednesday on how Savile became “untouchable” at the BBC.