ALLEGATION mounted upon allegation yesterday as the Jimmy Savile sex-abuse scandal spread and now threatens to engulf the BBC.

Serious questions are now being raised over what kind of culture was permitted to operate inside the corporation in the 1970s, and how BBC bosses handled the behaviour of some of its top stars towards underage girls and women.

In one of the most shocking new claims, which points to the fact that sexual abuse and misconduct was widespread inside the BBC, former Radio 1 presenter Liz Kershaw claimed that as a young DJ she was regularly groped by another – as yet unnamed – presenter while broadcasting.

Kershaw criticised the station's "intimidating, locker-room" culture – and said that when she tried to complain she was asked if she was a lesbian.

Her comments came as the BBC promised to co-operate with an inquiry by the Metropolitan Police into claims that presenter Jimmy Savile, who died last year, regularly abused young vulnerable girls, sometimes on BBC premises.

Around 40 women have come forward claiming they were raped or molested by the Jim'll Fix It and Top Of The Pops presenter in the wake of an ITV documentary broadcast last week, which detailed how the presenter allegedly targeted girls in his dressing room and Rolls-Royce.

Yesterday, Kershaw said Savile's behaviour was an "open secret" at the station. "Around Radio 1 everyone joked about Jimmy Savile and young girls," she said. "The main jokes were about his adventures on the Radio 1 Roadshow.

"[The Roadshow] was massive then. It was rather like The X Factor going round the country then. Can you imagine The X Factor judges rounding up the contestants and asking for sexual favours after the show? I don't think so."

Kershaw, who joined Radio 1 in 1987, also said the station was a "very intimidating" culture for a young woman. "There was one presenter who routinely groped me," she said.

"I would be sitting in the studio with my headphones on, my back to the studio door, live on air, and couldn't hear a thing except what was in my headphones, and then I'd find these wandering hands up my jumper fondling my breasts.

"I couldn't say anything, I couldn't even explain because I was broadcasting to the nation. When I complained to somebody they were incredulous and said 'Don't you like it? Are you a lesbian?'."

A raft of other allegations have emerged about Savile's behaviour, including a former nurse alleging she saw him abuse a hospital patient who had undergone brain surgery at Leeds General Infirmary where the BBC presenter was a volunteer porter. A patient at the same hospital also claimed she had been groped by him while she was recovering from back surgery aged 16.

Former Radio 1 DJ Ed Stewart, 71, also said he and other BBC colleagues avoided parties thrown by Savile because of rumours about him and young girls, with Top Of The Pops hosts warning each other not to get involved.

Other revelations yesterday suggested Savile was not acting alone. His nephew Guy Marsden, now 59, said he was just 13 when his uncle took him to gatherings where he believes men sexually abused girls and boys as young as 10. He claimed they were attended by several household names from the world of showbusiness.

It was also claimed that Savile had an accomplice – again, as yet unnamed – in the BBC, who allegedly helped to procure girls for the presenter and other men.

And the case of Claire McAlpine, a girl from Watford who was a regular in the audience of Top Of The Pops, has raised some disturbing questions in the wake of the revelations about Savile.

In 1971, aged 15, she took a fatal overdose and named a string of DJs and showbusiness personalities whom she claimed had "used" her. Nobody was questioned by police, however – who said it would be "ridiculous to connect anyone or anything mentioned in her diary with reality".

Meanwhile, comedian Freddie Starr denied being a "third man" seen abusing schoolgirls in Savile's BBC dressing room along with Gary Glitter, saying he had been falsely linked to the sex scandal.

Among those who have admitted to hearing rumours about Savile is ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen, who said people "blocked their ears" to the gossip. Radio and TV presenter Paul Gambaccini said he had been waiting 30 years for the accusations to come out.

Broadcaster Janet Street-Porter also said she was aware of rumours about Savile when she worked at the BBC during the 1980s. But she claimed nothing would have been done if allegations had been raised as there was a culture of inappropriate behaviour behind the scenes of the "male-dominated" entertainment industry.

Former staff have also claimed BBC bosses were aware of allegations of Savile's targeting of teen girls as long ago as the 1970s. Revelations that an investigation by Newsnight was shelved last December led to claims bosses at the broadcaster knew about the allegations but kept quiet, which the BBC has categorically denied.

Peter Saunders, chief executive and founder the National Association For People Abused In Childhood, said the BBC now had to find out why no-one had dared to challenge Savile over the claims.

"The BBC have got to launch a proper investigation and they have got to ask all these witnesses to come forward to say what they knew," he said.

"They need to explain why they didn't do anything so that the whole of the country can get their head around why this was able to go on and why he was alleged to have got away with what he got away with for 30 or 40 years.

"I don't think it is an inquiry for the sake of an inquiry, It is about learning very important lessons so that we can make sure this particular kind of scenario doesn't arise again."

PR guru Max Clifford, who began his career in the music industry working for EMI in the early 1960s , said there was a culture of "anything goes" in the late 1960s and 70s in the pop and television world.

He said: "The truth probably is an awful lot of people were involved in under-age sex which maybe they weren't even aware of, but it certainly went on. It is on reflection now that a lot of people will probably see a very different side to it and I think Gary Glitter, Jimmy Savile, Jonathan King, people like that, potentially epitomise so much of what was going on then."

An authorised biography of Savile – called How's About That Then? – was published in June by Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Alison Bellamy, who declined an interview request last week.

The book describes his response when she asked him outright about the rumours of child abuse. Savile told her they had started when he had gone to a Leeds junior school to give a talk to children aged around 10 or 11 and two girls from the class subsequently came to his door.

"I let them into the flat because I get on with anyone, I do," he told Bellamy. "So like any guests, they came in, looked around, were quite excited about the fact they had managed to get in and we had a cup of tea, Everything was very nice and they went home and that was that."

Savile said he was then followed by the News Of The World after the paper was alerted by the father of one of the girls, who had "flipped, calling me a pervert" after he learned of the visit.

"Goodness knows what they were looking for, but there was never anything they could publish," he added.

BBC director general George Entwistle has met with police and sent an email to all BBC staff last week urging them to come forward with any information.

The BBC's investigations unit is also said to be carrying out an analysis of documents relating to programmes over the past four decades.

Jon Brown, sexual-abuse lead for charity the NSPCC, said there was not as much understanding about sexual abuse in the 1960s or 70s. "Just because it was a few decades ago doesn't in any way excuse it," he added. "What happened is, of course, profoundly wrong."

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We are shocked by allegations that anything of this sort could have been carried out by anyone working for the BBC. They are allegations which the police have the proper powers to investigate. We would encourage anyone with information on such issues to also speak to the police."

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