JIMMY Savile once boasted of having friends in the IRA which he used in threats against his enemies, it has been claimed.
The former presenter of Jim’ll Fix It – who is now suspected of being one of Britain’s most prolific paedophiles – told a journalist that he could have people “done by the IRA”.
In the conversation which he had with the reporter in 2000 – evidence of which has been passed to the multi-agency investigation into Savile’s abuse – he claimed that his Papal blessing had given him direct connection to republican killers.
According to the story published in the Sunday People, Savile quizzed the reporter over rumours that a recently deceased friend had been mugged.
“I want to know names and I can have them waking up in hospital with every bone in their body broken,” he said.
“If someone has done this to ****** that makes them my enemy. And you don’t want to be my enemy.
“I know the IRA, men from the IRA, and you don’t need to ask these guys twice.
“I’m serious. Don’t f*****g think I’m not serious.
“I can get them done – just with a phone call. That’s all it takes, young man.”
When the journalist asked what connection he had to the IRA, Jimmy Savile replied; “You don’t get blessed by the Pope for noting.”
Meanwhile, the BBC is expected to broadcast a Panorama special on Monday night, examining Newsnight’s decision to drop an investigation into Jimmy Savile’s abuse of children.