Police and prosecutors in England and Wales will change the way they deal with alleged sexual offences against children following the Jimmy Savile scandal, the director of public prosecutions is expected to announce Wednesday.
Keir Starmer will say that the authorities have been over-cautious in treating witness accounts and he is expected to reveal that new guidelines for police and prosecutors are being drafted.
“We cannot afford another Savile moment in five or 10 years’ time,” he will say, according to extracts of his speech released to the media.
“Whatever approach is now agreed it has to be fully informed, coherent, consistently applied across the country and able to withstand the test of time.”
A new panel will review cases where alleged abusers avoided charges, he will announce.
Late DJ Savile is believed to have carried out more than 200 sexual offences over a 54-year period.
Despite numerous brushes with the law, Savile managed to evade the law and was left to abuse on an unprecedented scale.
Savile scandal forces rethink on sex allegations
