* UK police say number of victims now reaches 300
* 114 allegations of sex crimes made so far
* "Tsunami of filth" has rocked the BBC
(Adds more details)
LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - British police investigating
alleged sexual abuse by one of the BBC's most celebrated TV
stars said on Thursday some 300 victims had come forward and
they were preparing to make arrests in a scandal that has thrown
the broadcaster into disarray.
Detectives said they had been staggered by the number of
people who had come forward since the late Jimmy Savile's crimes
were first revealed just over three weeks ago.
The head of the BBC's governing body called the allegations
a "tsunami of filth", and police said Savile was "undoubtedly"
one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders ever.
"It's quite staggering," said the police inquiry leader,
Commander Peter Spindler.
Having interviewed 130 of the alleged victims, officers had
recorded 114 reports of sexual assault or serious sexual
assault, mostly against Savile - the outlandish, cigar-chomping
DJ turned TV host who was one of the BBC's top presenters of the
1970s and 1980s.
The allegations, which first emerged in an expose on the
rival British TV channel ITV, have rocked the BBC, with its
chief George Entwistle admitting the broadcaster has been
damaged by the scandal.
The revelations have generated huge attention, not least in
the United States where Entwistle's predecessor at the BBC, Mark
Thompson, is poised to take over as chief executive of the New
York Times.
On Wednesday, lawyers representing some 30 alleged victims
of abuse told Reuters their clients said other celebrities were
involved, while some of those abused by Savile have told the
media they were targeted on BBC premises.
"We are preparing an arrest strategy now," Spindler told
reporters, adding he could not identify who their suspects were
or whether they also had worked for the BBC. "We do have a
number of other people that we can investigate."
Entwistle, who only took over the most prestigious role in
British media in September, appeared before a parliamentary
commission this week to explain why the BBC had dropped its own
investigation shortly after Savile died last year.
His performance in parliament was described as "lamentable"
by one lawmaker, and his overall handling of one of the worst
crises in the BBC's 90-year history has been widely condemned.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said the BBC, paid for by
an annual tax on all households with a colour TV, had serious
questions to answer.
"TERRIBLE DAMAGE"
"We have to deal with the terrible damage to the reputation
of the BBC which has hitherto been a national institution which
people have trusted," Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust
which oversees the broadcaster, told BBC Radio.
"It was a very, very difficult initial baptism of fire for a
new director general of the BBC, this great tsunami of filth
broke over him 11 days into the job."
Savile, knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his charity work and
famous for his garish outfits and long blonde hair, was a
household name in Britain but little known beyond its shores.
Such has been the publicity surrounding the case that
Spindler said the number of historic abuse allegations reported
to police in London alone had trebled, calling their inquiry a
"watershed moment for child abuse investigation".
He said they were investigating three categories of
offences; those that involved just Savile which made up the vast
majority of cases; those involving Savile and others; and those
which had no direct link to Savile.
At this stage there was no evidence of any organised
paedophile rings and offenders appeared to be opportunists,
Spindler added.
He revealed that a retired officer had come forward to say
he had investigated Savile in the 1980s over allegations of
indecent assault but there had not been enough evidence to
pursue a prosecution.
(Additional reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Maria
Golovnina)
