Savile CPS decision to be revisited

The decision not to prosecute Jimmy Savile over abuse allegations in 2009 will come under the spotlight again after the Prime Minister said Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer will review legal papers from the case.

Surrey Police submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service containing references to four potential offences, including an allegation of indecent assault on a young girl at a children's home, but it was dropped due to a lack of evidence.

David Cameron told MPs it was essential that lessons were learned from the scandal of Savile's decades of sexual abuse.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, he said: "The Director of Public Prosecutions has confirmed that his principal legal adviser will again review the papers from the time when a case was put to the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) for prosecution.

"The Director of Public Prosecutions specifically is going to consider what more can be done to alert relevant authorities where there are concerns that a prosecution is not taken forward.

"The Government will do everything it can do, other institutions must do what they can do, to make sure that we learn the lesson of this and it can never happen again."

Mr Starmer said the evidence was considered by prosecutors, but because the alleged victims would not support police action, it was decided not to proceed.

As the number of allegations against Savile has snowballed, Mr Starmer asked the chief Crown prosecutor for the South East, Roger Coe-Salazar, to look at the files again. He concluded the correct decision was taken, although the files will again be reviewed "out of an abundance of caution".

Mr Cameron also told MPs the BBC had "serious questions" to answer about how Savile got away with the abuse for so long, adding that he did not rule out "further steps" in addition to the two inquiries into the Corporation already under way.

Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry welcomed the DPP's decision, but said any review should be conducted by independent inspectors, rather than the CPS itself. She said: "It is deeply disappointing that the CPS was presented with evidence of a clear pattern of sexual assaults by Savile and decided not to act."