Pendle MP calls for Jimmy Savile to be stripped of his knighthood (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Pendle MP calls for Jimmy Savile to be stripped of his knighthood
2:23pm Wednesday 17th October 2012 in Pendle
By Vanessa Cornall, Crime reporter
Pendle MP calls for Jimmy Savile to be stripped of his knighthood
AN East Lancashire MP is calling for the Honours Forfeiture Committee to strip Sir Jimmy Savile of his knighthood.
Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson urged the House of Commons to ask the committee to posthumously remove the TV star’s OBE – Officer of the Order of the British Empire – and knighthood awarded for his charity work, after allegations of sexual abuse arose after his death.
It comes as police chiefs in the county confirmed that two allegations made by women in Lancashire will be examined by the London-based inquiry.
One of the allegations dates back to the 1960s and involves a woman who now lives in Chorley.
A second from the 1980s involves a woman who now lives in Rossendale.
Mr Stephenson said: “The government say that a knighthood expires when the person honoured dies. But I don’t think that is true.
“Jimmy Saville will always be remembered as a ‘Sir’ and I don’t think that is right. I think the Honours Forfeiture Committee should publicly remove his honours in they see fit.
“Like many others I held Sir Jimmy Saville in high esteem and I even signed an early day motion after his death commemorating all the great charity work he did. When all of the allegations came to light it was a shock.”
An investigation led by the Metropolitan Police is looking into 120 lines of enquiry, possibly involving 25 girls, stretching as far back as 1959, concerning the former Jim’ll Fix It star.
Sir Jimmy, who died aged 84 last year, is alleged to have abused girls as young as 13, with allegations spanning the entire country.
The investigation has been widened to cover the ex-Radio One DJ’s time as a charity fundraiser at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in Buckinghamshire.
Savile is understood to have been an occasional visitor to Burnley’s popular Locarno Club in the 1960s, when he managed a sister venue in Leeds. He was also a special guest at the opening of a new restaurant in Earby in 2006.
