A year ago, and we all thought that Jimmy Saville was a British legend, fast forward a year and we know know the truth. He was a peadophile.
The stories just keep getting worse and worse and with each new revelation the more uncomfortable I get with it.
In my school days, I became friends with the classmates in the year above. I was asked to run the School Discos on a Friday, which were traditional run by the 6th formers. As time went on the more we got to know them, they became my close friends we laughed, cried and looking back we shared great memories.
The day my older friends left school was a sad day. I didn’t really want to be at School anymore, I wasn’t looking forward to my time as a sixth former.
Away from School my older friends and I worked hard to keep on contact with each other. Regular visits to the pub, parties and gigs with the friends who’d been so good to me and looked out for me where a regular thing. It kept me going.
When I first stuck up a friendship with the boys, there was a group of 4 of us and sadly we all had to deal with the loss of one of them just before Christmas, which was a hard time for all of us.
Something happened to our friendship group, that was far darker than any death of grieving period could have ever prepared us for.
My Mum received a phone a call from my friends Mum, who asked if we’d heard the news. We hadn’t.
We were told that one of our friends had had his computer seized by police. They’d found Child Pornography on his computer.
It didn’t really sink in at first, they’d made a mistake. Surely. This was my friend they were talking about. And my friends don’t do that.
He was always the one who was a bit of unintentional clown, who bumbled through life, its really hard to explain his personality, but one things for sure the revelations were completely unexpected.
I felt disgusted an sickened. All the happy memories we’d shared where now irriplaceably damaged. Every new newspaper report made me more ashamed. When he was conficted and his name was released. The shame spread further. I found myself denying that I ever knew him
I can remember someone saying that we’d had enough to cope with when our closest friends dying and know we were having to deal with the fact that one of them was a convicted peadophile.
It made wish for normal, healthy friends who’s only fault was being a bitch after too much alcohol.
My former friend did go to prison for his crimes. I haven’t spoken to him since and never want to.
His lawyer tried to limits his vile actions to his disability, that he didn’t know what he was doing and that he would cope in prison.
I can tell you categorically that he was compleatley aware of his actions and his disability did not effect his mental ability nor his understanding. I was angered that they’d tried to used that as a get out of jail card, literary in this case.
The point is none of us would have guessed in a million years that my friend would have been capable of having such low morals.
The on going rambles of the Jimmy Savile allegations and other abuse scandals just takes me back to the feeling of disgust and disappointment I felt and still feel for a man I once called my friend.
