(CNN) — British police investigating abuse claims against disgraced TV host Jimmy Savile arrested a London man Sunday on suspicion of sexual offenses.
Police did not release the suspect’s name, but said the man they arrested falls under the “Savile and others” strand of their investigation. The man was later released on bail.
British media reported that the man arrested was 1970s pop star Gary Glitter.
A TV documentary a month ago detailed allegations of sexual abuse against Savile. Police investigating the scandal are dealing with about 300 apparent victims, Cmdr. Peter Spindler told reporters.
Savile’s favored targets were apparently girls in their mid-teens in what Spindler said was “alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale.”
British radio disc jockey, television star and charity fund-raiser Sir Jimmy Savile poses for a photo at Buckingham Palace, London, after receiving the Order of the British Empire in 1972. Since his death a year ago at age 84, Savile has been knocked off his perch as a national treasure, accused of being a predatory pedophile who used his fame and position to abuse youngsters, sometimes on BBC premises.
Dancers on the BBC TV show “Top of the Pops” adjust Savile’s track suit top for him during the making of the show in 1973.
Savile poses with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at a National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children fund-raising presentation in 1980.
Savile pours a cup of tea.
Savile calls from the Wren House International Telephone Exchange in London in 1975 as part of a “Fun And Happiness Weekend,” organized by the National Association of Youth Clubs.
Savile arrives in London in 1972 on his way to Buckingham Palace, where he is to be awarded the Order of the British Empire.
The first presenter of long-running music program “Top of the Pops,” Savile poses by a portrait of himself in February 1965, while enjoying his regular breakfast of Coke and a cigar in a central London hotel room.
Savile and his mother pose outside Buckingham Palace in London, where he receive his Order of the British Empire in 1972.
Savile shows off his Order of the British Empire to members of the “Second Generation” song and dance troupe.
Savile stands on the sidewalk with his motor home.
Savile holds a newly-printed “Lucky Jim” poster. The posters feature a portrait of the DJ, along with a text reading: “The Lucky Jim poster can bring you health, wealth, happiness. This is a genuine duplicate signature and what’s more Jimmy has actually touched YOUR poster!”
British Secretary of State for Social Services Norman Fowler presents Savile with a check for half a million pounds in 1982 as the government’s contribution to an appeal for a new spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
Savile waves with Jersey Holiday Queen Gaynor Lacey at the Jersey Battle of Flowers carnival in 1972.
Days before his 80th birthday in 2006, Savile prepares for the Great North Run in Newcastle, northern England. 
The funeral cortege of Savile arrives at Leeds Cathedral for a funeral service on November 9, 2011, in Leeds, England.
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Photos: The life of Jimmy Savile
The BBC’s shameful scandal
Cops: Savile a predatory sexual offender
NY Times’ connection to BBC scandal
The British TV icon died in October 2011 at age 84. But authorities have said they are preparing an arrest strategy for others, still living, against whom allegations have been made in connection with the Savile case.
Profile: Idolized in life, reviled in death
Countless Britons who grew up watching Savile on TV’s “Top of the Pops” and his children’s program “Jim’ll Fix It” have been left reeling by the slew of claims against him in the past month.
The reputation of the British Broadcasting Corporation, his former employer, has also been tainted by the scandal amid questions over how his abuse went undetected, and its decision to drop a program investigating allegations him last year.
“Now the BBC risks squandering public trust because one of its stars over three decades was apparently a sexual criminal; because he used his programme and popularity as a cover for his wickedness; because he used BBC premises for some of his attacks; and because others — BBC employees and hangers-on — may also have been involved,” BBC Chairman Lord Patten wrote in an editorial published Sunday in the Daily Mail.
The BBC has said it is horrified by the revelations and has launched two independent inquiries.
Sunday’s arrest comes a day after Savile’s family made its first public statement since a slew of claims of sexual abuse of under-age girls destroyed the reputation of a man they had regarded as a hero.
Savile’s nephew, Roger Foster, had defended his late uncle — who hosted shows watched and heard by a generation of young Britons — in a newspaper interview before the allegations emerged in a TV documentary a month ago.
But as those few claims snowballed into hundreds, the family had to face up to the horrific truth: that the man they were so proud of as a media star and tireless charity fundraiser had a far darker side to his past.
“I watched the program in horror and could not believe that these allegations were about our uncle. This wasn’t the man we knew and loved,” Foster said. “We began to have doubts as to our own feeling towards our uncle. How could the person we thought we knew and loved do such a thing?
“Why would a man who raised so much money for charity, who gave so much of his own time and energy for others risk it all doing indecent criminal acts? How could anyone live their life doing the ‘most good and most evil’ at the same time?”
CNN’s Laura Smith-Spark and Per Nyberg contributed to this report.
Source Article from http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/28/world/europe/uk-savile-investigation/index.html?eref=edition
UK media: Star arrested in Savile probe
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