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Paul Gambaccini victim of a "witch hunt"..
Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini has backed a 28-day limit on the use of police bail after telling MPs he was the victim of a "witch-hunt".
Mr Gambaccini was arrested on suspicion of historical sexual abuse and placed on bail for a year before the case against him was dropped in October.
He told a Commons committee that lost earnings and legal fees had cost him more than £200,000.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) denied there was a "witch-hunt".
Gambaccini claimed he and others been the victims of a "witch-hunt" to divert attention from the failure of the authorities to deal with Savile while he was still alive.
Held on bail for almost a year he realised the dates of his bail renewal often coincided with important developments in the Yewtree investigation.
Bail was extended on 2 May, when publicist Max Clifford was sentenced for historic indecent assaults, on 30 June, hours after the conviction of Rolf Harris, and on 12 September when former Stoke Mandeville doctor Michael Salmon appeared in court charged with rape, he said.
When his bail was extended to 15 September, he suspected a link to the trial of Dave Lee Travis, which was due to end on that date.
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He's right though that it is quite obvious that they are scoping more for these type of allegations and stringing out the court cases to make a public show of it all and that it's the high profile nature of the Savile case that has caused this change, but then that is preferable to just turning a blind eye to any allegation of this type as seems to have happened too often in the past whenever it's been anyone of high status. That's the political element of the law - always trying to affect public perceptions after being shown up in the past (as well as now).
I feel sorry for anyone not guilty of this type of crime being put on public display but if it's a choice between that or having these type of allegations dismissed by authorities only to rise up decades later (and be proven true at times) then I think that's the lesser of the two evils from a holistic society POV. So long as the actual investigation is sound then you have to hope they uncover the truth in each individual case and there are no miscarriages of justice. I do have misgivings about them making names public before pursuing cases to the courts but I guess they have their reasons with wanting others to come forward. I'm not sure it's the right thing but then I'm not an expert in law and policing.
Now they need to have a long hard look at what is going wrong in the care homes and where all those allegations are coming from if they are serious about tackling it all. As well as the council/social workers around the country because the figures from Rotherham are absolutely shocking. That isn't a case of a few bad apples hiding a couple of cases. 1400 is more like a black market child sex trade. It's a mind-boggling number. You wonder how many people need to negligent for that to happen? (I'm assuming that figure is accurate.)
He says the police handed their one case file to the CPS in 10 February 2014 but it was another 8 months before he was told there was no case against him. Was it coincidence when the police chose to renew his bail, was it part of a PR exercise or is he being ultra sensitive.
Here's a humorous account of his evidence to the select committee.
It's about the victims not the perpetrators something the internet mob seem totally unable to comprehend. It matters not one iota to the victim the social status of the perpetrator. This obsession with Parliamentary abusers as if their crimes against children are greater than other abusers smacks of politics rather than genuine concern. What we have in all these cases is massive pressure on authorities to bring cases to court but fact is there is very little evidence. Hence you get the police going on fishing trips ie. Cliff Richard and MP's using parliamentary priviledge to out names. The danger is that our civil liberties are in danger of bring eroded . PC is a victim of this this. Reality has got to kick in and the realisation that it is very difficult to bring cases decades later. For god sake concentrate on the kids being abused now in cities across the country by gangs.
No, he's back on Saturday nights on Radio 2.
OK. Cool. Thanks.:)
He said in court that he was "paying for Savile" in that the failings to spot what JS was up to meant that a few high profile names needed to go down. Fair enough with Hall, Harris & Max Clifford but DLT seemed to get a raw deal. And I say this as someone who could never stand the bloke.
True I still hear people calling him a Paedophile, which id just wrong. He has been hung out to dry by the media.
I whole heartedly agree with this statement. It seems that now the Police are over compensating for their massive errors. Rather than stand up and admit they got it wrong they now seem to take so long with every allegation being made.
Paul was out of his regular work for 12 months, he claims it's cost him £200,000
Who on earth can afford to lose money like that only to be told at the end of it they aren't going to take thing any further.
So much mud was thrown at DLT something had to stick in the end. I dread to think how much money he lost in the last three years.
I believe later this month we will discover the fate of Neil Fox, he's now been off the radio for six months, presumably losing money.
It does make you wonder where it will all end.
That has been on before and was released originaly on DVD in 2012.
The woman who made the sexual harassment accusations against DLT used the story for many years in her comedy act, often claiming that it could have well been an accidental incident.
She certainly beefed up her claims for the trial. As some people tend to do.
Similar I think to what happened last week when the police charged Neil Fox again on the very day Fred Talbot was sentenced. I have some sympathy with Gambaccini's suggestion that there is the whiff of these cases being managed around a series of carefully calculated PR opportunities.