The television news channels were reporting that hundreds of people had come forward to provide statements, the tombstone was removed from Savile’s grave to prevent reprisals/vandalism. The women featuring in the ITV interview were appearing on more programs along with more female victims.

The news channels carried an interview with a solicitor, Liz Dux, she was advising victims to come forward and contact her for victim support, representation and to benefit from her knowledge of historical abuse cases. I called her on Monday and discussed my situation, I was offered a no win no fee contract which I accepted.

Liz requested a copy of my notes from the police interview and I emailed these to her, I notified her that my family were unaware I had been a victim and at here suggestion I created an email address for all communication going forward. Liz advised the Met police that they should only communicate via the email address and I started to feel a bit better, my only concern now was if I were arrested by the Met.

I sat down and wrote out the full statement in detail as far as I could recollect, this time including the incident with the dead woman and the injury. I emailed this to Liz.

Liz wrote a week later advising that I must place a claim with CICA before Friday, as on that date they would be reducing any pay-outs for victims of criminal injuries and I may lose out, I contacted them and filed a claim, this was not easy as the forms provided simply did not fit with historical and multiple incident claims.

A week later CICA, despite my writing on the form my contact email address and the requirement for confidentiality, called my home telephone number. Fortunately, I answered the call and was on my own so could speak, they insisted on sending copies of my claim form by post to my home for signature and would not accept any other communication route. For the next five days, I had to ensure I got to the post first to receive the documents as my wife usually opens mail addressed to either of us.

Out of the blue in January, the Met police called my home number, spoke to one of my children and stated that he was an officer from the Met, he was part of operation Yewtree and that he wanted to speak to me. I was passed the phone and had to walk off into another room to talk, my son had told my wife about the call by the time I returned, and both required an explanation of why the Met Operation Yewtree wanted to speak to me, which was not easy.

The officer advised that they may not require my statement, as in his words they already had enough witnesses. He went on to say that there were hundreds of victims coming forward and that if they needed to contact me, they would in future use the email address I had provided.

I emailed Liz Dux who was disappointed in the actions of the Met, so she sent them a copy of my written statement to ensure the crimes I had reported were included in their investigation.

The next month, Liz emailed to request a meeting with one of her team to capture a full statement from me about the abuse, she asked me to nominate somewhere we could meet for this and I was a bit flummoxed as I did not know how I could do this, in the end we met in a quiet pub and went over my statement for about 2 hours to obtain an official version, including details of my childhood and the consequences of the abuse on my life.

Next it was the turn of the West Yorkshire Police, they telephoned my home number, again ignoring my request for all communication by email. We agreed to meet at a local police station and I duly arrived on the day, I was concerned about the last interview held at the same station, I was concerned I may be arrested and charged, I was expecting Liz Dux or one of her team to attend the interview as I had notified her of the location, time and date of the meeting and I was concerned that no solicitor arrived.

It turned out that the officer I was meeting had written out a statement, he had read my supplied statement via Liz Dux and had re written the salient points that interested the police in the language used by the police for statements, the police were not concerned at my childhood upbringing, or at the consequences and effect the abuse had on my life, they stated that as a minor I had not committed any crime in touching the girl in Savile’s car and that the subsequent hot water bottle searches with my sister. They were only interested in the meeting with Savile in which I was groomed, the two incidents in his car and the final meeting with the dead woman and punishment injury caused.

I was asked to read and sign each page of the handwritten statement, which I did. I was then advised that the police, uniquely in history, had decided to record the allegations of the victims as crimes committed by the deceased, Savile, posthumously. I was advised that 208 crimes had been recorded in this way, and four of these were based on my statement. Two counts of sexual abuse of a minor, one count of gross indecency and one count of actual bodily harm.

Liz Dux, upon receiving my complaint that she had not been present simply said that she would not have been permitted to attend the signing of a witness statement, she had not considered how I felt, returning to be interviewed at the same police station where I had been treated as complicit in sexual abuse of a minor and incest.