Karin Ward, whose gutsy interview sparked the BBC’s worst controversy, reflects on a year in which she felt “just for once, justified.”
Jimmy Savile was a well-known figure in the British entertainment sector. The DJ and broadcaster was well-known for his BBC programmes as well as his humanitarian work. However, after Jimmy’s death in 2011, other survivors claimed that he was abusive, with investigators concluding that the media celebrity victimised over 500 people.
‘Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story,’ a two-part Netflix documentary, explores the long-running rumours about him while he was alive, as well as the survivors who came forward with their testimonies. Karin Ward was the first to speak up about what had occurred to her, igniting a series of events that would have far-reaching consequences. So, shall we investigate what transpired?
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Karin Ward, Who is She?
Karin had a terrible childhood, claiming that her mother was unappreciative of her and that her stepfather had sexually assaulted her. Karin’s situation only worsened while she was a resident of the Garfield House children’s home in Norfolk, England. While living at the facility, Karin met Jimmy for the first time. “I don’t recall him doing anything to me,” she stated about a camping trip. I do recall being raped twice during that holiday season. First, there was a warrior, and then there was a Frenchman.”
Karin was transferred to Duncroft Approved School in Surrey, England, when she was about 12 or 13. She was fine there until Jimmy started showing up on a regular basis. Karin stated that he would pick up young girls, drive them about in his car, and take them to the BBC Television Centre in London, England, to see his show. Jimmy would pass around cigarettes and cookies in exchange for sexual favours, she said.
In exchange for a trip to the television studio, Karin acknowledged to performing sexual acts on Jimmy. She claimed that the harassment continued in the changing room while she was there. Karin also claimed that she was grabbed as a teenager while watching Jimmy’s concert by Freddie Starr, a comic at the time.
Jimmy always seated a female on his lap in the dressing room, she recalled, and had his hand up her skirt. “He was a filthy old man who had a thing for extremely young girls,” Karin continued. He’d always put his hands up your skirt or top, and if you were wearing pants, he’d find a way to get them down your waistband. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching for his hands.”
However, the vulnerable females did not perceive it as abuse. They sat and spoke about what Jimmy had done to them while smoking the cigarettes he had given them, Karin recalled. Karin’s psychotherapist encouraged her to write down her experiences years later, which she did and subsequently published online.
Reporters began knocking on her house as a result of this. Karin agreed to an on-screen interview for the BBC, but the show was cancelled at the time. In 2012, she granted an interview to ITV, and the charges against Jimmy were revealed in a documentary that followed.
What happened to Karin Ward and Where Is She Now?
Karin had three failed marriages in the years following the abuse. She has seven children, but only three of them have been in contact with her, according to recent reports. When additional survivors came forward with similar accounts, Karin felt relieved.
“In a strictly selfish sense, I was genuinely delighted so many other individuals coming forward and said, ‘And me,’ because I’d been justified,” she added.
“For years, I’d told the truth and been accused of being a problem or an attention-seeker,” Karin continued. She has previously expressed interest in establishing a legal aid fund for survivors of domestic violence. Karin appears to live with her youngest child in Shropshire County, England. She has also overcome cancer.