Latest man arrested in Savile sex abuse probe is famous TV and radio star... and both police and BBC refuse to name him

The 64-year-old man was one of two men arrested on Tuesday morning



Witness said it was a BBC star and said 'there was no doubt who it was'



Campaigners say it's 'chilling' not to release the identities of the men



A top BBC presenter has been arrested by detectives investigating the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Officers from Operation Yewtree have refused to name the suspect, 64, who still works at the BBC and is a household name.

The BBC, the suspect and his agent have all refused to confirm his identity.

Star: A presenter from the BBC, whose London Broadcasting House headquarters are pictured, has apparently been arrested on suspicion of historic sex offences. But the Corporation has refused to reveal his identity

The situation provoked a new row about so-called ‘secret arrests’. Critics say that refusing to name arrested suspects means innocent people are falsely linked to high-profile arrests by Yewtree officers.

And yesterday an innocent entertainer of the same age was widely named on the internet as the person who had been arrested.

But despite the potential damage to the man’s reputation, the Metropolitan Police and BBC both refused to confirm the identity of the man who had really been arrested.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, criticised the decision not to publicise the star’s identity, saying it was ‘chilling for officers to refuse to confirm names of those detained or charged’.

Tory MP Philip Davies, a member of the Commons culture committee, said: ‘My view is people should be named, particularly for sex offences, and one of the reasons is that it could encourage other potential victims to come forward.’



He added: ‘I don’t want to live in a country where the police go around arresting people secretly and quietly. The fact that they name people is an important safeguard.’

Arrests: Two more people have been arrested as part of Operation Yewtree, which was set up in response to the crimes of Jimmy Savile, pictured

The BBC star who was arrested was one of two people detained on Tuesday morning after police swooped on two separate addresses in South London.

The pair are the 15th and 16th people to have been arrested under Operation Yewtree, which was set up to investigate claims of sex abuse carried out by DJ Savile and others. The identity of the other suspect, who is 74, has also been kept secret.

According to reports, a witness said that police arrested the 64-year-old star at 5am on Tuesday, and were seen removing material from his home. The witness added that the celebrity was easily recognisable, saying: ‘There’s no doubt who it was.’

When the star’s name was put to the Met on Wednesday, it refused to confirm his identity. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘We are not prepared to give a running commentary on the investigation. We don’t discuss names. We never have done.’

But the Yard indicated in a statement that the man is not suspected of committing offences with paedophile Savile, saying he came under the strand of the investigation dubbed ‘others’.

Suspect: David Smith, a former BBC chauffeur, has been found dead shortly before he was due to face trial

The BBC said it was unable to comment on the arrest. But it later confirmed that there were no plans, at present, to take the star off air. A radio programme featuring him is scheduled to be broadcast in the next week.

Entertainer Rolf Harris, former Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis and PR consultant Max Clifford are among the high profile figures already arrested and charged with sex offences following Operation Yewtree. They all deny wrongdoing.

Comedian Jim Davidson, who was arrested in January, learned in the summer that he would not be charged.