Skip to main content

The Fame Years

“HOWZABOUT THAT THEN”

Over a decade of DJing secured Savile work at the BBC.  One of his first jobs was presenting on a topical radio discussion programme called ‘Speakeasy’. And in 1964 he became the first presenter on what would turn out to be the world’s longest-running television music show – ‘Top of the Pops’.His success gave him power within the BBC;

“...within the BBC, the whole organisation was at his beck and call. He had a huge amount of power, he certainly knew it, and constantly built it around him. With everything in life, he used it to get his own advantage”David Hardwick, Radio show contributor

But despite the fame and the money, Savile was never seen out with a girlfriend. If he was asked to a film premiere, he’d take his mother, ‘The Duchess.’When his mother died in 1973, Savile spent five days with her dead body.He later called it the happiest time of his life.

JIM’LL FIX ITIn 1975 Savile began presenting the show that would make him a national treasure – ‘Jim’ll Fix It’. Each Saturday millions tuned in to see children send in their dreams to see which lucky one would come true. The format was phenomenally successful – the show’s ratings sometimes beat Coronation Street with over fifteen million watching it at its peak. It ran for two decades as production staff opened up to five thousand letters a day.

But then the children’s presenter made a bizarre admission – he didn’t much like his audience;

“I think all children should be eaten at birth.  That’s for sure.”Jimmy Savile

“He did not like children at all. He tolerated them, but that’s about as far as it went.”Janet Cope, Savile’s Former P.A.’

But this supposed private aversion to children was camouflage, intended to kill rumours of his real practices. And indeed, Jimmy’s very image – so odd and so eccentric – was his greatest asset, attracting attention but deflecting speculation. How could such a preposterous and prominent person be a pervert?

The platinum-haired, tracksuit-wearing Savile sported ostentatious jewellery, a cigar, and yodelled in between his catch phrases. His eccentric image – evolved over decades – meant he was soon everywhere on radio and TV:

“I can’t think of any media celebrity today who is more famous than he was then.”Dave Hardwick Radio show contributor’

In 1977 his TV show lead to his first meeting with the future prime minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher:

“He was pretty much ingrained in the nation’s consciousness.”Miles Goslett, Journalist

AUTOGRAPHS FOR KISSESBut it was his charity work that catapulted him above the rest of his fellow celebrities.It is estimated that the man who after his mining accident was told he’d never walk again, ran over 200 marathons, and that during his lifetime, he raised £40 million for charity. Savile particularly focused on the world famous Stoke Mandeville National Spinal Injury Centre and the Leeds General Infirmary. The public reason given for his personal attention was because of the spinal injury he’d received as a young man and the time he’d spent in hospital.And in recognition of his tireless work, he was given a bedroom at Stoke Mandeville. Savile would have many places to lay his hat, Broadmoor would give also give him a room, but he never called anywhere home. He once said that he never slept anywhere two nights in a row.

But there were also innumerable instances of what seemed genuine compassion.Dennis Lemmon, his former minder, remembered how Savile spoke to his son, Russell, who was dying of leukaemia after Savile recognised the boy’s surname on a hospital ward visit:

"... He went in and chatted for half an hour and our Russell thought the world of him. Jimmy hadn't seen me for 20 years but he remembered the name. That's his good side."

Another person related how when he found out her mother was in hospital, Savile rang the nurses knowing that his call and connection would ensure the mother was well looked after.

But the charity work was – like his supposed dislike of children – perhaps also camouflage. And like his presenting work, his charity work gave him access to the vulnerable.

NATIONAL PUPPETMASTERAnd it also gave him access to the powerful. During the 1980s he even became friendly with Prince Charles.

And it was Savile’s connections to everyone from princes to prime ministers that helped make him untouchable:

“He had friends in the very highest echelons of society...nobody messed with Jimmy Savile because he had connections that were unique... It was like he was the puppet master of controlling everything that was going on.”Peter Saunders, Chief Executive, National Association for People Abused in Childhood

In 1988, after years of voluntary work, Savile was appointed by the Department of Health as the head of a taskforce overseeing Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. Savile told people it was all part of his quest to be given a knighthood. Savile was literally given the keys to the institution and even a house on the site.When female patients were stripped for showering – a practice common in the late 1980s – he would make inappropriate comments.There were rumours that something was wrong with Savile. But the idea that the famous and loveable children’s presenter, the generous and tireless charity worker, the feted friend of the establishment and seemingly everyone, could be a paedophile was preposterous.And Savile was useful to those in power.

When the staff unions at Broadmoor threatened an overtime ban, Savile told the government that he would sort it in his own way. During the 1980s, the Conservative government was very appreciative of anyone who could control the unions and within a month of Savile being at the helm, the overtime ban was called off.Savile soon had influence over the hiring and firing of staff.And so he was given more and more access to more and more places.

 

In the 1970’s Savile also secured regular visits to Duncroft school in Surrey – a residential school that housed young girls sent there by the courts:

“Savile...worked on the principle that the mixture of his fame and the fact that he treated them to things like trips to the BBC, or trips out in his Rolls Royce that this was, if you like, a thrill that they wouldn’t get from their normal lives - in effect in an institution. So I think he gambled on that that would at the time would actually guarantee their silence.”Paul Connew, Former Editor, ‘Sunday Mirror’

Crime File Section
Crime File

The Plan

On 10 March 2012, the police are called to a confrontation between Philpott and Lisa. She still refuses to return to him.It’s becoming obvious to Philpott that his usual combination of sweet talk, threats and bullying will not win this woman back.He tells Mairead of his plan to win back Lisa. They will start a fire in their home, blame Lisa, win custody of her children, and then Lisa will have to return. For the plan to work, Mairead must risk the lives of her children, and this will be in order for Philpott to win back his mistress.Mairead agrees.She will do anything to maintain her marriage.However, for Philpott, Mairead is utterly ‘expendable’.

Philpott includes his best mate, Paul Mosley, in the plan. Paul had been convicted of robbery as a teenager, but has not been in trouble with the police since.

Philpott starts mentioning to friends and acquaintances that Lisa has threatened to set fire to the family home. When he posts on Facebook the accusation that her brother in law fathered her eldest, Lisa reacts. She phones Mick and he alleges she threatens him.Philpott is delighted. He immediately rings the police and demands her arrest.He’s furious when they refuse.He repeatedly tries to draw the police into his plan. He repeatedly fails.But a court hearing is set for 11 May to determine the children’s arrangements. Most think Philpott hasn’t a chance of winning custody.But he says he’s not bothered. He has his plan.

THE HERO OF THE HOURHis plan will later be described as ‘outside the comprehension of any right thinking person.’ He intends to start the fire the night before the court hearing. He wants the court to hear how in the moment of crisis, as the flames licked around the base of the house, he, Michael Philpott had stepped up, using a ladder, to rescue his trapped and screaming children.

The court would surely have no choice but to award custody to the heroic fire-fighting and child saving Mick. And surely the police would now arrest the arsonist and child endangering Lisa.And then, when it was all over, and Lisa was released, she would come back to her Mick. And they would all once again be a big, big happy family.

It would have been miraculous if any part of this plan had actually worked.

At 3:30am on 11 May 2012, at 18 Victory Road, Derby, there would be no miracles.

Crime File Section
Crime File

Elisabeth

Fritzl's evil secret

“I knew that Elisabeth did not want the things I did to her. I knew that I was hurting her. But the urge to be finally able to taste the forbidden fruit was too strong. It was like an addiction.”Extract from Josef Fritzl’s statement released shortly after his arrest in April 2008

Fritzl first rapes his daughter in 1978. Elisabeth isn’t yet a teenager.He has ‘prepared’ her by leaving pornographic magazines under her pillow. He then exposed himself to her. He then starts to sexually abuse her.

Elisabeth never discusses her abuse with anyone.

 

The construction work underneath the family home nears official completion. This is, however, only the start for Fritzl. He’ll build a labyrinth of rooms covering an area of 60 sq metres.The flats above are rented out to tenants. But Fritzl’s principle rule is that any entry into the cellars below would mean instant eviction. Nobody dares cross him.

“... he managed to camouflage himself as a respectable member of society while...leading this double life of monstrosity.”Bojan Panchevski, European Correspondent

On 28 January 1983, Elisabeth runs away from home.But being underage, a warrant is issued for the minor’s return. Police find her in Vienna. Tragically, they return her to her parents. Josef Fritzl promises her that she will never run away again.

By summer 1983 the cellar is completed.Fritzl says they will be used as workshops and for storage.But the ‘rabbit warren’ like complex has cupboards with doors in them that lead to narrow corridors through which one can only crawl. Using his skills as an engineer and an electrician, Fritzl installs electric locks that can only be opened using a special code and activated only by a remote control he always keeps on him.

ESCAPE FROM AMSTETTENIn May 1984, Elisabeth announces she will move in with her sister in nearby Linz. This is effectively an exit strategy. But Fritzl fears that if Elisabeth is free of his daily control, she may go public with what he’s been doing to her in private. He can’t go back to prison.So instead, he decides to imprison her.

SECRET CELLAROn 28 August 1984, Fritzl requests his 18-year-old daughter come to his study. When her back is turned, he uses a chloroform infused rag to cover her face.He carries Elisabeth’s unconscious body to her prepared prison. It contains a bed, TV and video. He chains her up.When she wakes, he forces her to write a letter. In it Elisabeth says she’s runaway to join a cult.Fritzl drives 100 miles out of town to post the letter. Rumours spread that if Elisabeth hasn’t joined a cult, she’s probably prostituting herself in Holland.

British born, local journalist, Mark Perry is contacted by the police. They want him to put a picture of the missing girl in his paper. They’re convinced she’s the victim of a crime, but can’t track her.She was literally under the noses of the press and police in a prison on a dog’s leash.

In that fetid, dark, humid prison, Fritzl starves, beats, tortures and repeatedly rapes his daughter. To ensure compliance, he chains her to the wall. When he leaves her, her only company are rats and insects.

“...the only way we can explain that survival is her own personal resilience and the psychological concept of the Stockholm syndrome, whereby the person who has been taken hostage learns to accommodate the hostage taker. In other words, if the hostage wants to survive that experience, they have to do basically what the hostage taker wants them to do...(and) part of the Stockholm Syndrome is making the hostage feel as if there is literally no escape. He convinces Elisabeth that there’s gas traps, that there’s electronic doors, that there’s no way that anybody can hear her cry. It’s part of the process of controlling her in that space.”Professor David Wilson, Criminologist

The rapes continue.Inevitably, horrifically, Elisabeth becomes pregnant. Alone, she miscarries.The rapes continue. She becomes pregnant again. Fritzl gives her a book on childbirth, a couple of nappies, a towel...and a pair of scissors.

 

Crime File Section
Crime File

Serial Killer

SELF MADE SERIAL KILLER

'The motivation seems to have been this quest for infamy – to be a serial killer.' Martin Finnegan, Detective Inspector

Colin Ireland, now 39, decided to take advantage of the knowledge he’d acquired studying a subject that fascinated him: Serial Killers.

He knew Geographic Profiling helps locate killers. Most commit crimes in a radius of about 7 miles from where they live. For this reason, Colin chose London as his ‘murder ground’, well away from his Southend-on-Sea base.

EASY PREY

The Coleherne pub in West London was a cavernous, dimly lit bar with blacked out windows and an industrial decor.

'The Coleherne back then was the destination venue for gay leather men in London. Paul Burston, Author ‘Queens’ Country’

It’s where sadomasochistic men met. Punters would wear colour-coded handkerchiefs to indicate their sexual proclivities, and whether they were sadistic or masochistic:It wasn’t uncommon for complete strangers to agree to go off and have sex within minutes of meeting. It was the perfect hunting ground for Ireland.

'I went to the Coleherne that evening and I felt that if I was approached by one of the group that tended to trigger feelings in me – masochistic men – I felt there was a likelihood I would kill.'

On a Monday evening, on 8 March 1993, Ireland was posing as a ‘top’-S&M shorthand for ‘dominant partner’ when he met his first victim. Peter Walker, 45, who was a renowned assistant theatre director by profession. He was a ‘bottom’-or submissive partner-by proclivity.

Peter spilt his drink on Ireland. They chatted and soon left together. On the way, Ireland put on gloves. In Peter’s Battersea apartment, Ireland gagged him with knotted condoms. This was foreplay. Peter willingly let himself be bound with cord to his four-poster bed.

Ireland then revealed his ‘murder kit’ containing a knife, gloves and a change of clothes. He viciously beat Peter with a belt and his fists. He then put a plastic bag over Peter’s head. When Peter was close to suffocating, Ireland removed it. As Peter recovered, Ireland then replaced it. He repeated this again and again. He told Peter he was going to die. Ireland greatly enjoyed the power. Eventually, Ireland didn’t remove the bag.Ireland compared the ‘buzz’ of his first kill to that of losing his virginity.

In cleaning the apartment of any forensic traces, Ireland found evidence Peter had been HIV positive. Incensed, he pushed a condom into the dead man’s mouth and another into his nostril.

He also placed two teddy bears in a 69 position on top of Peter. Ireland would often leave such items as symbols of innocence lost.

After this, Ireland then returned to erasing any trace of his presence. He bagged up his own clothes. Then he waited patiently for the morning rush hour:

At seven o’clock he then left and mingled out with the crowds and just blended into obscurity.' Martin Finnegan, Detective Inspector.

'I remember walking down the road, and I thought they must see in my face that I have just murdered someone.' Colin Ireland.

Ireland disposed of his clothes, gloves and shoes by throwing them out of a train window, within the boundaries of the London transport system. This was another of his counter measure rituals.He later rang the Samaritans and told them that he’d locked up Peter’s dogs and they needed to be released. He wasn’t concerned for the animals welfare, only that the murder would be revealed. So he also rang ‘The Sun’ newspaper and calmly told an editor what he’d done;

'It was my New Year’s resolution to kill a homosexual. He was a homosexual and into that kinky sex. You’re into all that stuff aren’t you.'

Ireland also took money out using Peter’s bank card:

'He got into the habit in his early crimes of reimbursing himself for the expense of committing them'John Nutting, Prosecutor

As Ireland was unemployed, his counter forensic destruction of his clothes, gloves and shoes was an expense he could only finance through theft.

After two months, Ireland wanted to kill again. On 28 May 1993, he returned to the Coleherne. He met 37-year-old librarian Christopher Dunn. Christopher said he liked domination and they went to his Wealdstone flat. There they watched S&M porn and then Ireland tied up his willing victim. Face down, feet tied and handcuffed, Christopher was then burnt with a lighter. Realising this wasn’t fetishitic foreplay, he told Ireland his PIN number. Ireland then strangled him with a piece of cord.

Ireland again cleaned the crime scene. He even cleaned his fingerprints off his torch batteries. And again Ireland waited until he felt it was safe to leave. The pre-killing Colin found it hard to sit with the cooling bodies of his victims, but the cold, psychopathic part of Ireland ensured he stayed put till it was safe.

Two days later, a friend discovered Christopher’s body.

SUMMER OF FEAR

On 4 June 1993, just six days after killing Christopher Dunn, Ireland returned to the Coleherne. Perry Bradley was a 35-year-old Texas businessman and son of a serving US congressman. He took Ireland back to his Kensington apartment. This time Ireland had to persuade Bradley to be tied up saying he couldn’t get aroused without it. Once tied up, Ireland tortured, threatened, obtained Perry’s PIN number, and then killed him. He placed a doll on Perry’s dead body.

He then made himself a sandwich. After his usual clean up, and when he felt it safe, he left.

But Ireland’s counter forensic measures were only so that he would be free to kill. He wanted the police to realise they were all the work of one serial killer.

'His motive was fame, not sexual satisfaction...he wasn’t so much a serial killer as a lethal parody of one.' Anna Gekoski, Interviewer of Ireland.

So three days later he went back to the Coleherne. Andrew Collier was 33 and HIV positive. A fact Ireland found only after binding him at his flat and searching through his possessions. Enraged to have been deceived twice, he killed Andrew’s cat in front of him. He then burnt bits of Andrew’s body. He also shoved a condom into Andrew’s throat and suffocated him.

But a serious street fight around one in the morning had attracted Ireland’s attention. In trying to get a good look out the window, Ireland had accidentally placed a finger down on a bar that ran across the window.It was a fingerprint he didn’t clean off.

It was his only forensic mistake.

On 12 June 1993, Ireland called the Kensington and later Battersea police, claiming he had killed four men and they had to stop him from killing again. He gave them crime scene details about Collier’s cat that convinced them he was genuine.

He asked them if they were interested in the murder of Peter Walker and why they had stopped the investigation. He told them he would kill again, as he had always dreamed of committing the perfect murder.

This is an extract of his bizarre conversation with the officer:

Officer: 'Why are you doing this?'Ireland: 'Because I set out to see cos I’ve read several books on serial killers and you see, you know I wondered if it could be possibly done and got away with.’Officer: 'But what was your aim in all that?'Ireland: 'Just to see if it could be done alright, so I’ll leave you to get on with it. Bye bye.'

Ireland’s fifth and final victim was 41-year-old Maltese chef Emanuel Spiteri. On the night of 12 June, Ireland followed Emanuel from the Coleherne. They talked and then went to Emanuel’s Catford flat.

Ireland bound Emanuel to his bed, handcuffed him, put a noose around his neck and demanded his PIN. But Emanuel refused.

Ireland then strangled Emanuel. He cleaned up and watched television until he felt it safe to leave. This time though he started a fire in Emannuel’s bedroom. He hoped it would spread and burn down the whole block.It went out in the bedroom.

The next day Ireland rang the police telling them to look for a body at the scene of a fire in south London. He also explained why he’d ended five people’s lives:'I have read a lot of books on serial killers. I think it is from four people that the FBI class as serial, so I may stop now I have done five.'

Back in Southend-on-Sea, associates casually mentioned to Ireland that he resembled the image of the gay serial killer the police had revealed.

Ireland wanted control to the last. He went to his solicitor and signed an affidavit explaining why he was with Spiteri on CCTV. He calmly sat in his solicitor’s office, and asked him to ring the police.

Crime File Section
Crime File