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| LONDON — A television station in Northern Ireland has unearthed video footage of an interview six years ago in which Jimmy Savile, the former television host at the heart of a sex abuse scandal at the British Broadcasting Corporation, denied that he participated in “underage sex.” | LONDON — A television station in Northern Ireland has unearthed video footage of an interview six years ago in which Jimmy Savile, the former television host at the heart of a sex abuse scandal at the British Broadcasting Corporation, denied that he participated in “underage sex.” |
| The film surfaced on UTV, the former Ulster Television, as police officials said that the number of people who said they were assaulted by Mr. Savile had grown to 300 from 200 in just the last week as more potential victims contacted officers with accusations against the former disc jockey who died last year aged 84. All but two of the complainants involved females, the police said. | The film surfaced on UTV, the former Ulster Television, as police officials said that the number of people who said they were assaulted by Mr. Savile had grown to 300 from 200 in just the last week as more potential victims contacted officers with accusations against the former disc jockey who died last year aged 84. All but two of the complainants involved females, the police said. |
| The burgeoning scandal has swirled around Mr. Savile’s behavior over decades, the inability of institutions — including the police — to prevent misconduct and, specifically, a decision by the editor of a BBC program to cancel an investigation into the affair last December at a time when other parts of the corporation, Britain’s public broadcaster, were planning Christmastime tributes to Mr. Savile two months after his death. | |
| As the disclosures have widened, so too have suspicions that the accusations against Mr. Savile were widely known within the entertainment world, the BBC and among some police units. | |
| Some British newspapers focused their reports on Friday on the number of occasions when police officers and prosecutors began investigations of Mr. Savile but did not proceed. Those cases included four accusations of abuse dating from the 1970s that were investigated and abandoned in 2009. Prosecutors have now promised to review those cases. | Some British newspapers focused their reports on Friday on the number of occasions when police officers and prosecutors began investigations of Mr. Savile but did not proceed. Those cases included four accusations of abuse dating from the 1970s that were investigated and abandoned in 2009. Prosecutors have now promised to review those cases. |
| In another case, disclosed by police on Thursday, a retired officer said he investigated an accusation that Mr. Savile attacked a woman in his trailer in a parking lot at the main BBC television studios in west London in the 1980s. Police said on Thursday they were looking for the file on the case. | In another case, disclosed by police on Thursday, a retired officer said he investigated an accusation that Mr. Savile attacked a woman in his trailer in a parking lot at the main BBC television studios in west London in the 1980s. Police said on Thursday they were looking for the file on the case. |
| Another case involved a woman in 2003 and a boy in 2008, British news reports said. | Another case involved a woman in 2003 and a boy in 2008, British news reports said. |
| In an interview in 2006, however, Mr. Savile was asked on Ulster Television about “rumors about the eccentric, tracksuit-wearing, cigar-smoking personality that “had long been tabloid fodder,” and the interviewer, Gerry Kelly, raised the question of children. UTV is an affiliate of ITV, a BBC competitor | In an interview in 2006, however, Mr. Savile was asked on Ulster Television about “rumors about the eccentric, tracksuit-wearing, cigar-smoking personality that “had long been tabloid fodder,” and the interviewer, Gerry Kelly, raised the question of children. UTV is an affiliate of ITV, a BBC competitor |
| “I think all children should be eaten at birth,” Mr. Savile declared, when asked if he would have liked to have had any of his own, according to a transcript on the UTV Web site. | “I think all children should be eaten at birth,” Mr. Savile declared, when asked if he would have liked to have had any of his own, according to a transcript on the UTV Web site. |
| Mr. Savile interrupted the interviewer when Mr. Kelly suggested that, in a television show, “Jim’ll Fix It,” in which Mr. Savile helped children realize their dreams, “you loved those children.” | Mr. Savile interrupted the interviewer when Mr. Kelly suggested that, in a television show, “Jim’ll Fix It,” in which Mr. Savile helped children realize their dreams, “you loved those children.” |
| “I never loved them at all. I respected them and they respected me,” he said. | “I never loved them at all. I respected them and they respected me,” he said. |
| “They knew that I wasn’t some yucky adult that’d say: ‘My my, don’t you look smart today?’ I don’t talk like that to kids.” | “They knew that I wasn’t some yucky adult that’d say: ‘My my, don’t you look smart today?’ I don’t talk like that to kids.” |
| Mr. Savile was asked later about rumors in tabloid newspapers and he replied: “Any tabloid journalist will tell you two things. One: I’m very boring. Two: I don’t do drugs, I don’t do underage sex or any of them things that you read in the papers today.” | Mr. Savile was asked later about rumors in tabloid newspapers and he replied: “Any tabloid journalist will tell you two things. One: I’m very boring. Two: I don’t do drugs, I don’t do underage sex or any of them things that you read in the papers today.” |
| He added: “I don’t have an Internet, I don’t have a computer, I don’t know what an e-mail is. I don’t know anything about that world.” | He added: “I don’t have an Internet, I don’t have a computer, I don’t know what an e-mail is. I don’t know anything about that world.” |
| Referring to the rumors, he said: “Hey, all you can expect from a pig is a grunt. That’s it. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest.” | Referring to the rumors, he said: “Hey, all you can expect from a pig is a grunt. That’s it. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest.” |
| Speaking about the impression Mr. Savile made, the interviewer, Mr. Kelly offered a clue into some of the elements that shielded Mr. Savile from his accusers. | Speaking about the impression Mr. Savile made, the interviewer, Mr. Kelly offered a clue into some of the elements that shielded Mr. Savile from his accusers. |
| “We didn’t go away thinking he lied through his teeth from start to finish,” Mr. Kelly said in a separate interview with UTV broadcast on Thursday. “We took him at his word as everybody was at the time, we had no reason other than what was written on the Internet to disbelieve him.” | “We didn’t go away thinking he lied through his teeth from start to finish,” Mr. Kelly said in a separate interview with UTV broadcast on Thursday. “We took him at his word as everybody was at the time, we had no reason other than what was written on the Internet to disbelieve him.” |
| “I was sitting to him, as close as I am to you, face-to-face and he was saying he didn’t do these things. I could hardly call him a liar, could I?” | “I was sitting to him, as close as I am to you, face-to-face and he was saying he didn’t do these things. I could hardly call him a liar, could I?” |
| The scandal blew into the open with a documentary about Mr. Savile’s misconduct on the rival ITV channel earlier this month. But it also involves a decision by Peter Rippon, the editor of the “Newsnight” current affairs program, to cancel a separate investigation into Mr. Savile last December, saying he had taken the decision on journalistic grounds. | |
| Mr. Rippon gave details of his reasons in a blog posting on Oct. 2 that, five days ago, the BBC described as “inaccurate or incomplete in some respects.” | |
| As the affair widens, however, questions have been raised about why the corporation’s senior managers took almost three weeks to correct Mr. Rippon’s version. | |
| Steve Hewlett, a media reporter, said in a radio interview that, within a day of Mr. Rippon’s blog, “Newsnight” journalists had complained to senior managers about it. But the BBC’s formal correction came only on Oct. 22, hours before “Panorama,” another BBC program, broadcast its own hard-hitting examination of the scandal. | |
| “There are clearly questions for senior managers to answer,” said Ben Bradshaw, a lawmaker and former BBC reporter, in a BBC interview on Friday. |