Freddie Starr released on bail in Met Savile inquiry
Comedian Freddie Starr is released on bail after being questioned by detectives investigating allegations of sexual abuse surrounding Jimmy Savile.
A man named by sources as Mr Starr, 69, was arrested in Warwickshire on Thursday evening on suspicion of sexual offences by officers working on Operation Yewtree – the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse related to Jimmy Savile.
He was released in the early hours of Friday morning. Scotland Yard has not yet released the date when he is expected to represent himself to officers.
The first arrest under operation Yewtree was of former popstar Gary Glitter, who was bailed on Sunday.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Officers working on Operation Yewtree yesterday arrested a man in his 60s in connection with the investigation.
“The man, from Warwickshire, was arrested at approximately 5.45pm on suspicion of sexual offences, and was taken into custody. He has since been bailed.”
Mr Starr has previously denied that he had ever met Karin Ward, the woman who alleged that he had molested her during the filming of the Jimmy Savile BBC show Clunk Click.
Subsequently, his lawyer issued a statement to Channel 4 News. It read: “Freddie is now 69 and cannot be expected to recollect every show that he has appeared on and to remember every person that he has met.”
The statement added: “When the allegation made by Karin Ward was put to him Freddie’s first reaction was that he would never grope a women and never has.
“He then considered whether he had even been on a Jimmy Savile show or if he had met a women called Karin Ward. His recollection was that he had not been on a Jimmy Savile show and when he contacted the person who was his manager in the 70s he also could not remember Freddie appearing on any of his shows.
The statement continued that Karin Ward was not a name Mr Starr could remember and had no recollection of meeting her, but that footage of a Clunk Click show aired in 1974 showed that he was mistaken.
“However, this does not detract away from the fact that Freddie vigorously denies the awful allegation that has been made by Karin Ward, which despite this footage is still totally unsupported and uncorroborated by any other evidence,” it continued.
In a previous interview with Channel 4 News recorded on 9 October Freddie Starr said he would welcome the opportunity to speak to police.
The officer in charge of operation Yewtree has previously described how he is categorising the hundreds of lines of enquiry that he is dealing with, saying that they break down into three categories: Savile on his own; Savile and others; and others.
In its statement relating to Mr Starr’s arrest on Thursday, the Met said “The individual falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed ‘Savile and others’.”