The investigator who uncovered Jimmy Savile’s prolific pedophilia says that he is has been working with police, for some time, to expose a ‘very significant’ person who has, so far evaded justice because he is “untouchable”.
Mark Williams-Thomas, the former police detective-turned-TV journalist claims that it may end up that this other well known person will only be named when he actually dies.
The Mail Online reports: Williams-Thomas was the leading investigator on the ITV Exposure documentary, The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which revealed how one of Britain’s most loved entertainers systematically and disturbingly preyed upon young and vulnerable girls
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The award-winning film, broadcast just over a decade ago on 3 October 2012 – a year after Savile’s death – prompted hundreds of other unheard victims to come forward with their experiences.
In the documentary, five women stated that they had been sexually abused by Savile as teenagers. This exposure of Savile as a paedophile led to extensive media coverage, including 41 days on the front pages.
The film led to the Met Police’s Operation Yewtree investigation, which ultimately resulted in sexual abuse convictions for multiple celebrity personalities.
By October 2015, 19 people had been arrested by Operation Yewtree; seven of those arrests led to convictions.
However Williams-Thomas, a child protection expert has expressed his frustration that his pursuit of one high-profile target has so far been thwarted.
‘There are still people out there who are untouchable,’ the former Surrey Police and family liaison officer told i.
‘There is one very significant person who I’ve done everything to try and get prosecuted because he is clearly a child sex offender.’
‘To date the CPS won’t prosecute. The police and I have tried really hard to get there. He will die in due course and then the floodgates will open in the same way they did with Savile. That’s not right. But justice takes many different forms.’
He added: ‘The truth is no broadcaster would have done a programme about Savile when he was alive. We live in a society where there are some people you can’t take on and that’s really sad.’
Williams-Thomas, who left the police 20 years ago to set up a specialist child protection consultancy, has become a favourite with broadcasters and contributed to a recent Channel 4 film in which Sir Cliff Richard, Paul Gambaccini and DJ Neil Fox told how their lives were ruined by sex abuse allegations made against them.
The cases against Richard and Gambaccini never went to trial while Fox was found not guilty in a magistrates’ court.
‘There is always collateral damage,’ Williams-Thomas told i, ‘There will always be innocent casualties of war and that’s what happened here.’
Although he believes that the allegations against Sir Cliff were right to be put forward, he also said the police led a ‘shambolic investigation’.
‘What was wrong was the manner in which they did it’, he added.
His experience breaking the Savile story means Williams-Thomas doesn’t accept Sir Cliff’s plea for sex offence suspects to be granted anonymity before any charges are brought, according to i.
‘I’ve seen the value of lifting anonymity for victims to come forward. It’s one of the reasons the CPS didn’t have evidence to prosecute Savile when he was alive.’
‘The media plays a vital role in getting victims to come forward by publicising names. But they have to consider the impact on the accused because there is no more abhorrent crime than child sex abuse.’
