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According to the retired BBC worker, the Crimewatch host was told that DJs, stars and corporation staff were involved in organised abuse.

But when she tried to get bosses to investigate the alleged ring and other abuse complaints inside the BBC “no one wanted to know”, the former friend said.

Undeterred, Jill is said to have then raised the claims with senior management in the mid-1990s but no investigation took place.

The TV host was shot dead a few years later on the doorstep of her London home. The 37-year-old’s murder remains unsolved.

Her ex-colleague, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I don’t recall the names of all the stars now and don’t really want to implicate anyone but Jill said they were surprisingly big names.

“I think she was quite shocked when told about images of children and that information on how to join this horrible paedophile ring was freely available.

“Jill said others had complained to her about sexual matters and that some fellow female workmates also claimed they had been groped or assaulted.

“Nothing had been done and there seemed to be a policy of turning a blind eye.”

The source told how female colleagues went to Jill, who was then one of the best-known faces on TV.

She said: “I think it was in the mid 1990s, Jill was working on almost everything then including Crimewatch and Holiday.

“She was seen as the face of the BBC and a magnet for women with problems.

“She compiled a file of complaints but she was not really an investigative journalist, just a presenter.

“She passed the information to someone else and they gave it back. No one wanted to know.

“I do remember that she gave a file to senior management. I don’t think she heard any more.

“Other women who complained told Jill they didn’t want to risk their careers by making official statements against individuals as they would lose their jobs and that bosses seemed to ignore it.

“We all decided the best way was to keep our heads down and to always try to go somewhere with a colleague.”

The BBC said it would look into the allegations but added: “We have not seen anything to substantiate these claims.” Presenters Liz Kershaw and Miriam O’Reilly have both made allegations of sexual harassment at the BBC.

After Jimmy Savile was exposed as a paedophile and serial sex attacker in 2012, fellow BBC presenter Sally Jones spoke of how he had tried to grope her in a lift.

She confi ded in Jill after the attack, adding that the Crimewatch host said “she had had to fend off plenty of unwelcome advances herself”.

Sally said Jill told her Savile was “just a dirty old perv”.

Jill was shot dead on the doorstep of her home in Fulham in 1999.

Barry George was found guilty of her murder in 2001 but his conviction was quashed in 2008.

Jill joined a campaign to help children spot paedophiles the year before she died.