Jimmy Savile: Ex-Policeman 'Acted For Star'

A former police inspector has been accused of acting on behalf of Jimmy Savile by contacting officers before an interview.

The officer was from the West Yorkshire force, which has referred him to the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

He is accused of contacting Surrey Police before they questioned Savile over alleged sexual offences in 2009.

The IPCC said: "The referral follows a direction from the IPCC to record and refer the conduct of the former inspector, identified in a Surrey Police report as 'Inspector 5'.

The watchdog also said it has asked seven forces including West Yorkshire to review whether there are more conduct issues that should be referred to the watchdog over the Savile investigation.

The other six forces are Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and the Metropolitan police.

The IPCC said: "They have been asked to re-look at all information relating to the late Jimmy Savile. The IPCC has asked that each force provides the relevant documents and, if they decide not to record or refer any matters, the rationale for not doing so."

This follows a review by the IPCC of reports by Scotland Yard and the NSPCC, the Crown Prosecution Service and Surrey Police as well as information given by forces in West Yorkshire and Sussex.

The watchdog also looked at details given by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, which is preparing a report for the Home Secretary on what the police knew about Savile.

Prosecutors and police have already been criticised for missing the chance to bring the disgraced entertainer to court over the allegations before he died in 2011.

Last month, police revealed the "vast" extent of alleged sexual abuse by Savile - saying his crimes spanning more than 50 years were probably unprecedented in the UK.

The late TV presenter's suspected victims included 28 children aged under 10, including 10 boys aged as young as eight.

A further 63 were girls aged between 13 and 16 and nearly three-quarters of his victims were under 18.

Some 214 criminal offences have been recorded across 28 police forces and 34 rapes have been reported.