In keeping with its true nature – that is, bringing out the best in the worst people – social media is in part responsible for ‘outing‘ a “prominent Australian entertainer” who was overnight arrested in the UK over allegations of sex crimes.
The man, who for legal reasons cannot be identified by his full name, is being reported by mainstream news outlets as another high-profile Australian entertainer aged 82-years-old. Following a raid on his house in Berkshire and an interview “under caution,” he was arrested as one part of the eleven arrests undertaken so far in the course of Operation Yewtree, a three-strand investigation into allegations of widespread abuse of underage victims in the British entertainment industry.
Yewtree was established in response to a high-profile report which revealed that BBC presenter and broadcaster Jimmy Savile was responsible for the abuse of some 400 child victims [estimates range from 300-450]. Savile died in 2011; you can’t spell Savile without ‘vile.’
Operation Yewtree’s three pronged approach to unearthing abusers first looks at the actions of Savile; a second thread then looks at claims made against “Savile and others,” and the third relates to complaints against people unconnected to Savile. It’s this last category into which the Australian entertainer reportedly falls.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the man had been granted bailed, pending further inquiries, and is set to appear before police again in May.
In November last year Prime Minister Julia Gillard backed a Royal Commission investigating the prevalence of child sexual abuse in Australia and the “systemic failure to respond to it and to better protect children.”
via The ABC, The Australian
Photo: Dan Kitwood via Getty
