영국 BBC 방송의 간판 진행자 지미 새빌이 어린이 1000여 명에게 성범죄를 저질렀다고 영국의 일요신문 옵서버가 보도했다.
새빌은 지난 2011년 10월 사망했으나 지난해 1월 영국 경찰이 새빌이 성범죄를 저질렀다고 발표해 큰 충격을 던진 바 있다. 경찰조사 외에 BBC가 진상 조사를 의뢰했고 그 결과를 옵서버거 보도했다.
새빌은 1955년부터 2009년까지 50여년에 방송활동 기간 내내 남녀 아이에게 성범죄를 저지른 것으로 나타났다.
정확한 피해자 수는 나오지 않았으나 최대 1,000명에 이를 것으로 옵서버는 전했다.
성범죄는 대부분 방송국 안에서 이루어졌으며 새빌에게 사인을 해달라는 10대 여자 아이를 호텔로 데려가 성폭행하기도 했다.
BBC는 새빌의 비행을 폭로하려던 기획물도 제작해 놓고는 방송하지 않아 은폐 논란에 휩싸였고 그 여파로 지난해 말 사장이 물러나기도 했다.
(코리아헤럴드 이신영 인턴기자 sylee@heraldcorp.com)
<관련 영문 기사>
Ex-BBC presenter abuses up to 1,000 victims
Television and radio star presenter Jimmy Savile reportedly raped and sexually assaulted up to 1,000 girls and boys in the BBC’s changing rooms and studios, according British daily The Guardian.
Other foreign news outlets also reported that BBC staff “turned a blind eye” to the sexual abuse by Savile.
An inquiry by former judge Janet Smith found Savile’s behavior had been recognized by executives at the world’s largest public broadcaster but they took no action to stop him, reports said.
A police investigation concluded last year that the television and radio presenter, who died in 2011 at age 84, was a predatory sex offender who abused children as young as 8 over more than 50 years.
It identified 450 victims but the Smith inquiry suggests up to 1,000 people were abused by Savile while he was working for the BBC, according to the Observer.
Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, which had been consulted for Smith’s inquiry, said many people at the BBC admitted knowing about Savile’s behavior, AFP reported.
“The other thing I have found extraordinary, and very sad, is the number of people I have spoken to connected to the BBC -- and that is a lot of people -- who said: ‘Oh yes, we all knew about him,’” Saunders told the newspaper.
The Smith inquiry report is likely to throw the publicly-funded BBC into fresh turmoil when it is presented next month, according to AFP
The Savile revelations sparked a crisis at the corporation over how he was able to carry out such attacks and about the BBC’s failure to report the claims against him when they were first raised in the weeks after his death.
Director-general George Entwistle resigned in the wake of the scandal, and was replaced by Tony Hall.
Savile was one of the biggest TV stars in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, and used his fame as a presenter of the BBC chart show “Top of the Pops” and children’s program “Jim’ll Fix It” to rape and assault his victims, AFP said.
By Lee Shin-young and news reports (sylee@heraldcopr.com)
