Charity, celebrity and the corporate condonation of child sexual abuse

The institutions which opened their corridors, dormitories, rooms and accommodation to him – along with their most vulnerable patients, residents or 'inmates', appear to have bowed down to his fame. In awe of his 'super star' status, these institutions gave imprimatur not only to his conduct, but to its facilitation – by reason of their own desire to be associated with Jimmy Savile, 'Jim Top of the Pops', 'Jim'll Fix It'. Celebrity outshone exploitation. Fame trumped infamy.

Jim was indeed, it seems, 'Top of the Pops' – representative of the 'pops' who indulge their own perversities, indulging their sexual power by fixing upon the young, the infirm, the defenceless and the deceased. Jim did indeed, 'fix it': fix in the bodies, the minds, the hearts and the souls of those he exploited and abused, a knowledge of their own helplessness, an understanding of the ways adults can and do misuse their power.

The helplessness and vulnerability brought home to each and every one of those children and young people Savile exploited and abused, each and every one of those children and young people who knew others were being exploited and abused, each and every one of those children and young people who feared his proximity, the chance that they might be next, will have been compounded by the warnings given to them by adults – adults who were supposed to be their carers. Staff at some of these institutions, at least, are now reported as saying they 'warned' prospective targets to 'pretend they were asleep' when Savile came around, hawking his way through the wards and dormitories. Victims and survivors say staff warned them to make themselves 'scarce' when Savile was on the prowl.

'Lie still under the blankets' would help no living child, when Savile exercised power in mortuaries, over the bodies of the dead. Still, 'pretend you're asleep,' was the mantra – although how this could 'protect' a targeted child is unfathomable.

What sort of message was this conveying to all the children and young people who received these warnings? Its message was one of Savile-the-all-powerful. Its message was that adults could not – would not – help them. That adults had no more power than they did – and that adults could not – and indeed would not – stop him.

Ultimately, the adults exposed in the Jimmy Savile exposure – who can and do misuse their power - are adults taken in by celebrity, excusing their own failure to exercise responsibly their responsibilities toward children and young people. They are adults who excused their failure to halt Jimmy Savile in his tracks, by hiding behind his money-generating profile. They are adults who put 'first' their association with celebrity, their pandering to fame, as a cover for their own infamy. They are adults who did not take every step they could to expose Savile for what he was.

Yes, 'whistleblowers' suffer. Often, they are not listened to, even when (figuratively) shouting. Often, they are derided, dismissed, subjected to legal action themselves. Bullying conduct frequently descends upon those who expose the rot. Certainly those at the top are ultimately responsible for failing to listen, to take action, to stop Savile. Some may well be implicated in ways even worse than this. Yet, ultimately every adult who knew and took no action, every adult who suspected and did nothing, every adult associated with the man bears some of the shame.

The Jimmy Savile story, the Jimmy Savile expose - is not only about Jimmy Savile. Nor is it just about those men – such as Freddy Starr and Paul Gadd (Gary Glitter) - alleged to have joined him in at least some of his exploits or, at minimum, to have been present when he engaged in (some of) the conduct estimated as involving abuse and exploitation of up to 300 or so minors over a lifetime, and which has generated for detectives 400 lines of inquiry.

This story, the entire expose - is about adult failure to be responsible. It is about children and young people left to the mercies of a predator who knew no bounds. It is about the power and force of celebrity, its power to stop adults from taking the action they should, when celebrity is used as a means and a cover for denying childhood to too many children. It is about the power of money to subvert responsibility in institutions that call themselves 'charities', yet may be opined to have no charitable core when children's lives and wellbeing are not only at risk, but are jeopardised directly and unconscionably. The menace and the threat was not only Jimmy Savile. The menace and threat lay in adults incapable of looking behind 'charity' and unable to see beyond celebrity.