Author’s thoughts on monster Savile

David Hardwick was becoming a regular guest on a radio show of Savile’s in the early 1970s, and had told the BBC that he witnessed young teenage girls leaving his motor home in an isolated area of a service station.

The Crime and Investigation channel’s Crimes That Shook Britain features an interview with Savile’s family and former colleagues such as Dave, who describes the man as he knew him.

Said David: “According to the producer, mine was one of the most honest opinions of Savile as a person, rather than as a criminal or a star.”

David had been asked onto the Speakeasy show in the early 1970s, a Sunday afternoon programme for teenagers on Radio 1.

A decade before, he had made national headlines by launching the Young People’s Union, and found himself becoming a spokesman for the modern youth even into his 20s.

And it was after one Sunday show that Savile had offered David a lift back to Mansfield in his motor home. Savile had been on his way to Leeds, where he lived.

“You learn a hell of a lot about a person during a two-hour journey,” said David.

“I am a pretty good judge of character and suss people out quite quickly. In simple terms he was a horrible, slimy celebrity - nothing was real about him.

“Until we arrived at Leicester Forest East that day it was Jimmy Savile about Jimmy Savile. He talked about how wonderful he was and what he had achieved but he did not know anything about me.”

David previously told Chad how Savile had asked if it was okay for them to stop for an hour at Leicester Forest East on the M1 because he was tired and needed a sleep for an hour.

However, rather than parking close to the services, he said Savile picked a remote space in the trucking area, well away from the service station.

David said he went for a meal in the services, and when he returned the door swung open and two girls stepped out when he knocked on the motor home window.

He said they looked dishevelled and surprised to see David standing there.

But after passing on the information just hours after the incident, he was told by a BBC producer that bosses had warned him to not mention it again.

The show will be aired on 17th August at 9pm.