Newsnight caught in fresh paedophile storm amid claims 'senior political figure' will be outed on show

Editor of the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Iain Overton, makes claim on Twitter

The tweet prompts furious speculation online about the identity of the alleged paedophile, who is still alive

Channel Four's Michael Crick claims he has spoken to the man, who denies allegations and will sue if Newsnight shows investigation

BBC refuses to confirm if the investigation into the alleged abuser exists

The BBC has been dragged into a fresh storm over a second Newsnight paedophile investigation, it emerged today.
Editor of the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Iain Overton, mysteriously tweeted that a 'senior political figure' was to be outed as a child-abuser on the programme this evening.
The investigation about the unnamed man, who is alive, is being looked at by the BBC's legal team, MailOnline understands, but the corporation is refusing to confirm the probe exists.
This is despite Mr Overton's crystal clear message online: 'If all goes well we've got a Newsnight out tonight about a very senior political figure who is a paedophile.'

Mr Overton's bureau is a not-for-profit organisation which works with news outlets to publish in-depth investigations. It says it has been working on this project for the BBC.

It piles more pressure on the beleaguered corporation after last month it was revealed Newsnight dumped an investigation into paedophile Sir Jimmy Savile, even though they had interviewed his victims.

Channel Four political correspondent Michael Crick says he has spoken to the man at the centre of the allegations, who denied that he was a paedophile and said he would sue if Newsnight broadcasts anything on him tonight.

He also added that the man said he had not been approached for a comment by the BBC, despite it being earmarked for tonight's Newsnight.

The Metropolitan Police have told MailOnline they have not been handed anything on the subject of the investigation.

Read more: Daily Mail

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

BBC executives covered up a second paedophile who abused children in the toilets at the Corporation's studios, a leading journalist claimed.

BBC executives covered up a second paedophile who abused children in the toilets at the Corporation's studios, a leading journalist claimed.

John Simpson said a radio presenter, at the time one of the biggest names at the BBC, preyed upon youngsters after they won competitions to tour the studios and meet him.

But when Simpson, who has worked at the BBC for more than 40 years, tried to expose the predatory paedophile after his death, bosses called him an ‘idiot’ and instead told to praise the star in his obituary.

Veteran war correspondent Simpson made the claims in his 1999 autobiography Strange Places, Questionable People, first published in 1998, where he refers to the abuser as simply 'Uncle Dick'.

But in the light of the Jimmy Savile scandal they will make uncomfortable re-reading for the Corporation.

Days ago a Jim'll Fix It director claimed he made several attempts to expose disgraced Jimmy Savile to the BBC but had been ignored by bosses.

David Nicolson, 67, said he reported Savile decades ago when he caught the star having sex with a 15 or 16-year-old girl in his dressing room. Yet he was told by bosses: ‘That’s Jimmy’ and ‘that’s the way it goes’.

Claims that bosses covered up child abuse spanning 40 years by a second paedophile, said to be 'a children's favourite', will cast further doubt on the practices at the Corporation.

He claims the BBC's attempt to silence the claims went as high up as the then Director General, as reported by The Sun.

The radio presenter he claims abused children was one of the BBC's biggest names from the 1920s until his death in 1967.

Read More: DAILY MAIL

Jimmy Savile: Labour faces embarrassment over former child sex claims

Labour faces embarrassment over its calls for a wide-ranging inquiry into Jimmy Savile as senior party figures have previously called for the relaxation of child sex laws.

Harriet Harman, the Opposition deputy leader, said the allegations that the late TV and radio presenter abused dozens of young boys and girls had “cast a stain” on the BBC and other trusted institutions.

But at the time Savile was at the height of his fame, Miss Harman was calling for the relaxation of the law on child pornography.

She was a leading light in the pressure group now known as Liberty, which advocated the lowering of the age of consent to 14.

The organisation, then run by the Health Secretary under Tony Blair, Patricia Hewitt, even counted among its affiliates a number of extreme pro-paedophilia groups whose leaders were later jailed.

It means that any independent public inquiry into the culture that allowed Savile to abuse children for so long with impunity, could end up looking into the radical left-wing demands for the liberalisation of child sex laws that were made in the 1970s.
Read more: The Telegraph