Jimmy Savile brushed off accusatory women ‘like midges’

Late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, branded one of Britain’s worst sex offenders, said he brushed off women who accused him of assault “like midges” and claimed they were trying to make money by selling stories about him, it emerged on Tuesday.

Savile’s comments were revealed in the newly-released transcript of an interview with police in October 2009, two years before he died at the age of 84.

Detectives brought him in for questioning over allegations that he had sexually assaulted a number of girls at a children’s home in the 1970s, which Savile rejected as “fantasy”.

“I’m quite happy to answer questions, because if you’ve done nothing wrong then you’re OK,” the television star said, according to the transcript released under freedom of information laws.

“If somebody alleges you’ve done something... but I’ve had so much of it in 50 years, it started in the 1950s and it’s always either someone looking for a few quid, or a story for the paper.”

Elaborating later on in the interview, he said: “(In) my business there’s women looking for a few quid, we always get something like this coming up for Christmas, because we want a few quid for Christmas right?