Call to exhume disgraced Savile (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Call to exhume disgraced Savile

5:42pm Monday 5th November 2012 in News By Janet Gleeson

COUNCILLORS were today told that Jimmy Savile’s body should be exhumed and cremated after complaints from a family who have a child buried alongside him.

The call came as members voted unanimously to immediately strike his name from Scarborough Council’s roll of honour and revoke his freedom of the Borough once the police investigation is over.

But council leaders said there was no point in investigating exhuming the entertainer because the decision on his final resting place was a matter for his family and the church authorities.

Savile who died last October aged 84 is now thought to be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders, with Scotland Yard currently investigating allegations from 300 potential victims.

The entertainer, who had a long connection with the seaside resort is, buried in Woodlands Cemetery at a 45 degree angle so he could “see the sea”.

His £4,000 triple headstone – with the final epitaph “It was good while it lasted” – has already been removed and broken up for landfill at the request of the family.

Coun Colin Haddington today called for the disgraced entertainers body to be dug up.

He said:“I was approached by one of my constituents who informed me that her granddaughter is buried in Woodlands Cemetery and unfortunately Jimmy Savile has been buried very close to this lady’s granddaughter. This has caused a great deal of distress to the family.”

He said he was disappointed by the council’s decision but acknowledged the decision to exhume the body could only be made by Savile’s family.

Independent leader Peter Popple said he had originally put Savile’s name forward as a freeman in 2005.

“But we now know he had a black side,” he added.

“For years and years he made a home here in Scarborough and gained the trust, goodwill and friendship of people in the town. He betrayed that trust and goodwill by his black side and I know the hurt this has caused among his former friends in the borough.”

Council leader Tom Fox, Scarborough’s former police commander, proposed the motion to strike his name from the honours board.

He said it was an unprecedented move but his behavior had been so “grotesque and obscene” it was warranted.

The board is to be taken down tomorrow (Tuesday) morning so it can be sent away and altered.

Since 1974 the authority has granted freeman status to 20 individuals and groups including Sir Alan Ayckbourn and the Yorkshire Regiment.