Thursday 18 October 2012

Jimmy Savile: Steptoe and Son actor Wilfrid Brambell 'abused boys in Jersey' claims whistleblower

Wilfrid Brambell, the actor, became the latest BBC celebrity accused of child sex abuse last night after it emerged that two people had come forward in Jersey claiming to be his victims.

Brambell, who played the “dirty old man” Albert Steptoe in the comedy Steptoe and Son, allegedly abused two boys in a theatre in Jersey at the height of his fame in the 1970s.

One of the alleged victims was a resident at the notorious Haut de la Garenne children’s home which was at the centre of a high-profile police investigation into historical child abuse on the island in 2008.

He claimed to have been taken to the island’s main theatre, the Opera House, as a “treat” before being taken backstage to meet Brambell, who he accuses of molesting him in a back room.

The second victim, who had not been a Haut de la Garenne resident, also claimed to have been abused by Brambell at the theatre. The alleged victims were aged 12-13 at the time.

Brambell, who died in 1985, was homosexual and had a criminal record for “persistently importuning for an immoral purpose” in a public lavatory dating from 1962.

The allegations were made to former Jersey health minister Stuart Syvret, the most outspoken critic of the island’s failure to deal with child abuse when the Haut de la Garenne scandal erupted four years ago.

He was contacted by dozens of people who had been abused on the island, some of whom named Jimmy Savile as one of their abusers.

Mr Syvret told The Daily Telegraph: “Two of the people who contacted me said that they were abused by Wilfrid Brambell.

“I was told that he visited the back rooms of the Jersey Opera House and abuse would happen there.
Read More: The Telegraph

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