True story. When I was 7 years old, I sat near the feet of the UKs most notorious pedophile

His name is Jimmy Saville. It wasn't known that he was a pedophile at the time and it didn't come out properly till after he died.

Context for those who never heard of him....

He was a DJ and TV presenter and one of the most famous people in the UK, friends with the royal family, he had a lot of power and influence, he raised more money than anyone in the country for charity, gaining him a royal knighthood and creating an almost saintly image for himself, in the public eye...he could do no wrong.There were rumours and accusations circulating at the time, but they were never taken seriously because of his public image, and the media didn't dare cover anything because he was more or less the Don of the British media and untouchable.

But after he died, some victims came forward which caused a snowball effect of more victims coming forward and their stories seemed to be similar.

Turns out he had 1000s of victims, he took advantage of fans and vulnerable children in homes and establishments he volunteered in, his victims were boys and girls and sometimes adults.

How did I end up so close to him?.

He used to have a kids TV show called Jim'll Fix it where kids would send letters and ask him to make a wish come true. I lived close to the BBC studios and my friends family had a shop beside it so he got some free tickets, our seats happened to be center front. He sat on a throne on the stage about 3 ft infront of me.

Little did I know that I was sitting at the feet of the most deranged and wicked man in the country.

I recently watched the play that was released about his life, and some of the scenes featured real life footage from back in the 80s, one shot showed the BBC studios, both from outside and inside. It hit me hard seeing exactly where I was back then and the reality kicked in about how close I was to this mad man. When I saw the scene of him tricking a boy who was on his show to slip off to his dressing room to "earn his jimll fix it badge" it hit me how fortunate I was that he didn't pick me out of the crowd to meet him after the show.

Me and my friends played football in the alley way next to the studios every day and there was a back entrance in the alley...I remember we tried a few times to sneak in but the security would always kick us out. How fortunate that we never bumped into him at the side entrance all those times.