LONDON — The British police made an arrest Sunday in the widening inquiry into the sexual-abuse scandal surrounding late BBC television star Jimmy Savile.
The Metropolitan Police did not identify the man who had been arrested, saying only that he was in his 60s. But the British news media, including the BBC, widely reported that the man, who was being held at a London police station, was 1970s pop star Gary Glitter, a convicted pedophile.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said the man was arrested at about 7 a.m. Sunday “on suspicion of sexual offenses.” The arrest is part of a widening police inquiry known as Operation Yewtree into “Jimmy Savile and others,” the spokesman said.
Last week, police officials said about 300 people had come forward claiming that Savile had assaulted them. Before his death last year at age 84, Savile was one of Britain’s most famous television hosts, known for his charity work, his garish track suits and his peroxided hair.
Savile and Glitter have been accused of abusing children in the BBC’s studios.
Glitter, 68, a glam-rock star whose real name is Paul Gadd, was convicted in Britain in 1999 on charges of possessing child pornography. He served nearly three years in prison in Vietnam for sexually abusing two girls, ages 11 and 12.
