Jimmy Savile abuse survivor's heartbreaking plea to BBC bosses ahead of drama

09 October 2023 , 09:02

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Jimmy Savile abuse survivor's heartbreaking plea to BBC bosses ahead of drama

Jimmy Savile abuse survivor Sam Brown issued a heartbreaking plea to those that covered up the one of the most notorious paedophiles and sex offenders in British criminal history.

Sam, who was abused by Jimmy Savile at Stoke Mandeville Hospital Church, joined Susanna Reid and Ed Balls to share what it was like being involved in making of the BBC factual drama The Reckoning, which documents the life and scandal of the late entertainer.

Susanna asked Sam's husband: "Why didn't anyone stop him?" To which he replied: "I think because he had that hold on people especially where we live in Aylesbury, he was revered, everybody loved him because he'd done all this fundraising for Stoke Mandeville hospital. He made everybody trust him because he did all that good for everybody else."

Steve Coogan portrays Jimmy Savile (BBC)

Interjecting, Sam added: "At the same time everybody knew." And Susanna continued: "You see in the programme, people kept raising complaints, suggesting there was an investigation, saying there's a problem."

Ed questioned: "So what would you say now, to that priest? To the BBC bosses, who for years covered this up, what do you say to them now but what they did and what they've got to learn?"

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"I'm this person, I don't know who I would have been [if the abuse hadn't taken place]," Sam answered. "I'm a person I couldn't [cope with] education, I couldn't fit it in my brain because I was too busy being alive. The general thing of not loving anyone, not feeling I'm worthy of love. Who would I have been? I don't know who I would have been if they would have stopped him."

Interjecting, Ed asked: "What would you say to them?" To which Sam replied: "It's your fault you're accountable. Anybody who knows about any abuse, and that is every day of the week, if you do not raise that you are party, you need to raise that and if somebody's not gonna listen, then you talk to somebody higher."

It was only after Savile's death, in 2011 aged 84, that the full extent of his sexual abuse became clear.

If you have been affected by this story, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood is a charity that offers support and advice to adult survivors of any form of childhood abuse. It can be contacted on 0800 085 3330 or visit the website. Rape Crisis (England and Wales) offers help, support and information about rape and sexual violence. Call the national helpline on 0808 802 9999.

Charlotte McIntyre