THE 'MYSTERY LAWYER' AND TROUBLING QUESTIONS OVER SAVILE THAT DOG THE PRIME MINISTER

Sir Keir Starmer led the Crown Prosecution Service when the celebrity sex offender escaped justice. To this day, he insists he was unaware of the investigation, despite it featuring one of the most famous men in the country

- By Lord Ashcroft

WHEN Jimmy Savile died in October 2011, stories about his murky past resurfaced but, despite the best efforts of certain journalists, it was not until a year later that ITV finally revealed the full horror of the claims against him.

Among new details to emerge during the ensuing public outcry was that two police forces - Surrey and Sussex-had investigated the broadcaster and prolific charity cam-paigner between 2007 and 2009, after four women made accusations against him.

They had done so under the auspices of the Crown Prosecution Service, run by Keir Starmer since 2008. It provided regular guidance to detectives before concluding in October 2009, the same month Savile was interviewed by Surrey Police under caution, that no prosecution could be brought because none of the four complainants was willing to support police action and the evi-dence against him was weak.

This was probably the last chance for jus-tice for Savile's victims and, in what ranks as one of the biggest blunders in recent crimi-nal history, it was missed.

Starmer's story is that he, personally, was never aware that Savile had even been accused, let alone that the CPS had reviewed allegations against him and decided he could not be charged even though he had been the Director of Public Prosecutions for nearly a year by the time that now highly controversial decision was made.

"It never came close to crossing my desk and the local CPS lawyer who looked at the case did not even mention the decision to his immediate boss because, to him, it seemed routine," he has said.

But does this explanation hold water?