BBC Trust chair warns UK govt to refrain from interfering in Savile pedophile investigation

LONDON – The chairman of the BBC Trust has underscored the organization’s independence, issuing a thinly-veiled warning to the British government to refrain from interfering in the pedophile investigation into late entertainer Jimmy Savile.

Chris Patten exchanged letters Tuesday with Culture Secretary Maria Miller. In his letter, he insisted that the trust wanted the inquiries in the scandal to be comprehensive and independent.

But he also told Miller that he knows she wouldn’t “want to give any impression that you are questioning the independence of the BBC.”

The BBC has been rocked by allegations that Savile abused underage teens over several decades, sometimes on BBC premises. Some of the alleged victims have accused other entertainers and BBC staff of participating in abuse during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

Savile died last year.