This is from the whitewash, sorry I mean report, into Operation Newgreen, West Yorkshire Police’s (WYP) investigation into Jimmy Savile’s offending, and the relationship its officers had with him over the decades. The report was published yesterday:

4.9 Alongside the “Hand in a Handler” campaign, Savile was invited by the LDCSP (Leeds District Community Safety Partnership) to be involved in the ‘Talking Signs’ campaign. This involved a recording of Savile’s voice being broadcast through speakers attached to lamp posts giving local students and resident’s crime prevention advice. Savile did not receive payment for any support he provided to this or any other WYP campaigns.”

If you’ve got the stomach for reading all about how no one appears to have kept any paperwork, and how no one who’s still around today remembers anything about any investigations into Savile, or indeed anything much else about him, you can read the full report here – Operation Newgreen

For the record though, I disagree with the Guardian’s headline – Jimmy Savile report clears West Yorkshire police of shielding star – I think the report leaves more questions than answers. I also disagree with the conclusion in the penultimate paragraph of Josh Halliday’s piece:

“A trawl of police records also found that Savile had offered his services as an “intermediary” to detectives in the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper in the late 1970s. Savile’s name was mentioned on four index cards, according to the report, but there was no indication that he was of interest to the inquiry team.”

Particularly in light of this paragraph from the report:

9.5 The Yorkshire Ripper Investigation was the biggest enquiry ever conducted by West Yorkshire Police. Over the five year period thousands of men were spoken to and their details recorded on paper index cards. Searches of the paperwork relating to the investigation have identified four index cards relating to Savile. They contain scant information and do not indicate whether Savile was a “person of interest” to the enquiry team. The information held was his name, date of birth, home address and various reference numbers. It was not possible to establish the relevance of the reference numbers as a large proportion of the investigation paperwork had been destroyed in the 1980’s