Read Online In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Dan Davies
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specialist areas were social affairs and domestic coverage, so she was an obvious candidate to work on the investigation.
The first priority was to find Keri and get her to agree to an interview. It would form the central plank of
Newsnight
’s report,and Meirion Jones knew he was in a unique position to persuade her.
‘I thought I was probably the only person who could because of my knowledge of Duncroft,’ says Jones. ‘She was nervous and hostile at first but I told her how much I recognised from her account of Duncroft, which reassured her. I recognised the staff from her descriptions and I’d even seen Savile taking girls out on one occasion and I remembered Margaret [Jones, his aunt] telling us about trips to the BBC to see Savile.
‘She trusted me because I knew that the most unlikely elements of her story were true. The old manor house out of
The Avengers
, the celebrity parties, Jimmy Savile and the trips to the BBC would all have seemed improbable to most journalists but I knew that was so. The only further step I had to take was believe what she was saying about what Savile had done to her and the other girls.’ Jones reveals that although Keri had gradually opened up to him, she remained extremely sceptical that he would even interview her, let alone that it would be broadcast on the BBC.
Jones was in America working on a separate report for the first half of November, so MacKean would be responsible for much of the initial leg work, supported by a Glasgow-based BBC trainee Hannah Livingston, who was on attachment to
Newsnight
at the time.
They began by emailing the 60 or so ex-Duncroft girls active within the Friends Reunited online community, and Livingston was immediately contacted by one who said she had received a letter from Surrey Police asking her for information. As this exchange was taking place, Jimmy Savile’s nephew and niece were speaking to the press outside their late uncle’s flat in Leeds. They announced details of how he would be buried: holding his Marine Commando Green Beret and wearing his Help for Heroes bracelet and laid to rest at a 45-degree angle. ‘It was his last wish that he be buried like this,’ explained Amanda McKenna, ‘so he could see the sea.’ She added that his flat would be left untouched for the time being, even down to his last, unfinished cigar in the ashtray.
A spokesman for the Catholic diocese of the city encouraged members of the public to go and pay their respects when the coffin went on display at the Queens Hotel, saying, ‘He is Our Jimmy, our main man in Leeds.’ 1 A bandwagon was also now rolling to erect a permanent tribute to Jimmy Savile in his hometown. The deputy leader of Leeds City Council, Judith Blake, was confident she was speaking for the local population when she said, ‘We want [any memorial] to be a tremendous celebration of his life and everything he contributed. He had that ability to reach people and connect with them.’ 2
The connections Liz MacKean and Hannah Livingston were now making, however, produced a very different portrait to the one being admired by the nation at large. MacKean, in particular, had gone into the investigation needing to be convinced and felt strongly that Keri’s testimony was not enough on its own. Her opening pitch to the women who had been at Duncroft between the late 1960s and the late 1970s was that she was investigating a story about a celebrity visitor to the approved school. Jimmy Savile’s name wasn’t even mentioned.
MacKean told me she believes the blanket coverage of Savile’s death and his impending funeral worked to her advantage. ‘Their motivation [for talking], and this includes [Keri], was they were so furious at the way [Savile] was being eulogised and admired. They knew the truth.
‘A lot of them had put it behind them. Some of them hadn’t told their families. With a couple of them, no one knew they had been at Duncroft, so it was a source of embarrassment. They were
The first priority was to find Keri and get her to agree to an interview. It would form the central plank of
Newsnight
’s report,and Meirion Jones knew he was in a unique position to persuade her.
‘I thought I was probably the only person who could because of my knowledge of Duncroft,’ says Jones. ‘She was nervous and hostile at first but I told her how much I recognised from her account of Duncroft, which reassured her. I recognised the staff from her descriptions and I’d even seen Savile taking girls out on one occasion and I remembered Margaret [Jones, his aunt] telling us about trips to the BBC to see Savile.
‘She trusted me because I knew that the most unlikely elements of her story were true. The old manor house out of
The Avengers
, the celebrity parties, Jimmy Savile and the trips to the BBC would all have seemed improbable to most journalists but I knew that was so. The only further step I had to take was believe what she was saying about what Savile had done to her and the other girls.’ Jones reveals that although Keri had gradually opened up to him, she remained extremely sceptical that he would even interview her, let alone that it would be broadcast on the BBC.
Jones was in America working on a separate report for the first half of November, so MacKean would be responsible for much of the initial leg work, supported by a Glasgow-based BBC trainee Hannah Livingston, who was on attachment to
Newsnight
at the time.
They began by emailing the 60 or so ex-Duncroft girls active within the Friends Reunited online community, and Livingston was immediately contacted by one who said she had received a letter from Surrey Police asking her for information. As this exchange was taking place, Jimmy Savile’s nephew and niece were speaking to the press outside their late uncle’s flat in Leeds. They announced details of how he would be buried: holding his Marine Commando Green Beret and wearing his Help for Heroes bracelet and laid to rest at a 45-degree angle. ‘It was his last wish that he be buried like this,’ explained Amanda McKenna, ‘so he could see the sea.’ She added that his flat would be left untouched for the time being, even down to his last, unfinished cigar in the ashtray.
A spokesman for the Catholic diocese of the city encouraged members of the public to go and pay their respects when the coffin went on display at the Queens Hotel, saying, ‘He is Our Jimmy, our main man in Leeds.’ 1 A bandwagon was also now rolling to erect a permanent tribute to Jimmy Savile in his hometown. The deputy leader of Leeds City Council, Judith Blake, was confident she was speaking for the local population when she said, ‘We want [any memorial] to be a tremendous celebration of his life and everything he contributed. He had that ability to reach people and connect with them.’ 2
The connections Liz MacKean and Hannah Livingston were now making, however, produced a very different portrait to the one being admired by the nation at large. MacKean, in particular, had gone into the investigation needing to be convinced and felt strongly that Keri’s testimony was not enough on its own. Her opening pitch to the women who had been at Duncroft between the late 1960s and the late 1970s was that she was investigating a story about a celebrity visitor to the approved school. Jimmy Savile’s name wasn’t even mentioned.
MacKean told me she believes the blanket coverage of Savile’s death and his impending funeral worked to her advantage. ‘Their motivation [for talking], and this includes [Keri], was they were so furious at the way [Savile] was being eulogised and admired. They knew the truth.
‘A lot of them had put it behind them. Some of them hadn’t told their families. With a couple of them, no one knew they had been at Duncroft, so it was a source of embarrassment. They were
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