Wheelchair-bound friend, 73, of Jimmy Savile took paedophile star’s advice


A former neighbour & friend of notorious paedophile Jimmy Savile claims he took advice from the disgraced children’s TV presenter before sexually abusing a young boy.
Michael Wise, 73, claims he was told ‘never do anything to nothing’ by the ‘Top of Pops’ and ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ presenter, who, after his death, was accused of abusing hundreds of young victims.
After listening to Savile and believing it to relate to sex, wheelchair-bound Wise, who has cerebral palsy, convinced a young boy to perform a sex act on him by offering to buy him a scooter.
When the boy tried to tell his family about the abuse, which took place in the 1980s, he was taken into care.
His victim later turned to drugs, alcohol and crime, before mustering up the courage to confront Wise about his actions.
He later sent his abuser an email, which sparked Wise to apologise and offer himself to the police.
Yesterday, Wise, of Holmfirth, West Yorks, was given a suspended sentence at Leeds Crown Court, after pleading guilty to gross indecency with a child under the age of 14.
Prosecutor Paul Reid said that on multiple occasions the defendant trapped the boy between his legs and groped him, but he was too young to think anything of it and carried on helping him.
He said the victim remembers being brought by the defendant to Savile’s home for dinner and his friends being jealous at the time.
Mr Reid said Wise and Savile were friendly, adding: ‘Savile had one time ‘fixed it’ for the defendant to obtain his first car.’
Once the defendant, who was sitting naked in his wheelchair except for a blanket over his lap, said he would get the boy a scooter in exchange for a sexual favour, which the boy carried out.
Later that day, the defendant bought the victim a scooter.
As an adult, the victim emailed the defendant asking him if he remembered the offence.
The defendant replied saying: ‘That was a terrible thing to do and I am truly sorry.
‘I can’t right the past. Shall I phone the police and make a confession? I feel guilty and hate myself.’
The victim went to the police in March 2019. In his first police interview with an appropriate adult, Wise made no comment, before requesting a second interview.
Mr Reid said: ‘The defendant said he was an acquaintance of Savile, who had told him, ‘Never to do anything for nothing’ – which he understood to be an inference in a sexual context.’
In a statement, the victim said: ‘Michael used his many friendships with famous people and disability to get whatever he wanted.
‘Telling the truth did me no favours. I was depressed and alone and was branded a liar. I started acting up and asked to be put in care.
‘Things were no better there than at home.’
He continued: ‘Michael can never give me back my childhood. I always felt like an outcast.’
The victim said he left school without any qualifications and turned to alcohol, drugs and crime and the abuse has affected his relationships with his partner and his children, adding: ‘I will never forgive or forget what Michael did no matter how much time passes.’
Wise, now of Oakes Lane, Brockholes, Holmfirth, has no previous convictions.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar handed Wise a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to complete a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
The defendant was also made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
Sentencing, the judge said: ‘From time to time, you used to touch him between his groin.
‘It may be that that was all innocent. But the subject of the charge was not innocent. It was for your sexual gratification.
‘You used that little child to achieve that.
‘He left home and went into care. The lives of such victims are derailed by an event of this type.