Freddie Starr denies sex assaults and claims police questions are welcome

COMEDIAN Freddie Starr last night said he is willing to be questioned by police about abuse allegations surrounding Jimmy Savile – but denied being involved in sexual assaults.

Police have yet to confirm they wish to speak to Starr, 69, who appeared with Savile on the BBC television show Clunk Click alongside a 14-year-old girl who has accused the comedian of molesting her.

Starr’s spokesman said the ­comedian had been in “direct contact with the officer leading the Jimmy Savile investigation”.

A statement released on behalf of Starr said: “Freddie is prepared to be interviewed by the police, but his lawyer has been in touch with the person that is heading the investigation and they have no intention of questioning him.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman declined to comment. Speaking outside his home, Starr said: “I have said from the word go that I wanted to be interviewed. I have always said that I wanted to be interviewed.

“I have got the press ­phoning me up to ask if I have been ­interviewed. I got sick of it. ­Everybody, the press, the police, people at the BBC, they knew that things were going on with Jimmy Savile.

“Everybody is guilty of this. You can put the finger on everybody at the BBC and the fella’s [George Entwistle] only been in the job for four months. This fellow was at school when all this was happening.”

Meanwhile, Lothian and Borders Police confirmed yesterday that two women have come forward claiming to be victims of Savile, who died last year at the age of 84.

Both alleged incidents, one in Edinburgh and the other in Newcastle, took place in the 1970s. The incident in ­Edinburgh involved Savile ­allegedly ­making an inappropriate ­remark, while the ­Newcastle complaint ­concerns an allegation of sexual abuse. Both reports have been passed to the Metropolitan Police, which is leading the ­investigation.

It has been revealed that seven alleged victims of Savile’s abuse made complaints to four separate police forces while the disgraced television presenter was alive. The claims were made to ­police in Surrey, London, Sussex and Jersey.

Scotland Yard said on ­Thursday a retired officer had told them he had investigated Savile in the 1980s while based in west London, but did not have the evidence to proceed.

Commander Peter Spindler said he believed the allegation was of an indecent assault, possibly in a caravan on BBC premises in west London, but officers have still not found the original file.

Another allegation, of ­inappropriate touching dating back to the 1970s, was made by a woman in 2003, but this was treated as “intelligence” by ­police because the victim did not want to take action.

Surrey Police submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service containing references to four potential offences, including an allegation of indecent assault on a young girl at a children’s home.

The claims related to three potential victims in Surrey and another in Sussex.

Savile was interviewed under caution in 2009, but prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. The seventh allegation emerged in 2008, when Jersey police received a claim that an indecent assault occurred at ­children’s home Haut de la Garenne in the 1970s. But again, it was decided that there was ­insufficient evidence to proceed.