BBC director-general George Entwistle yesterday apologised to victims of Sir Jimmy Savile’s alleged sex abuse and pledged the corporation would hold its own inquiry following a police probe.

Mr Entwistle, who started in his new role only last month, spoke of deep regret about the ordeals of the women involved in the “awful allegations”, and said there would be a “comprehensive examination” of what went on.

The late radio and TV presenter has been accused by a growing number of women of sexual abuse over a number of years.

He spoke out a day after Prime Minister David Cameron called for the “truly shocking” allegations against Sir Jimmy to be fully investigated.

Last week the BBC said it would work with the police in examining the claims and on Friday Mr Entwistle wrote to staff urging them to come forward with information. And speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, he said: “These are awful allegations that have been made, and they are criminal allegations.”

He went on: “When the police have finished everything they have to do, and when they give me an assurance that there is no danger of us in any way compromising or contaminating an investigation, I will take it further and ensure that any outstanding questions are answered properly.”

A growing number of women have come forward to claim they were either abused - many of them under-age - or that they saw others who were victims. A number of former colleagues have told how they were aware of rumours about the former Top Of The Pops presenter.

Unease about the claims has led to a number of memorials to the star being removed. Yesterday it was announced an inscription on the wall at Leeds Civic Hall in recognition of his charity work will be taken down.

A street sign in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, was also taken away in the past few days.

Mr Entwistle said any BBC inquiry would take place after the police had conducted their investigations.

Any BBC probe, he added, would examine the “broad question of what was going and whether anybody around Jimmy Savile knew what was going on”.

Mr Entwistle said Sir Jimmy was widely regarded as a “bit peculiar”, but he said if anyone had been directly aware of the allegations they should have spoken up.

“It does seem to me that if people knew, they’d seen something themselves or been told something directly or had evidence of his behaviour, if they knew that then there was an enormous obligation on them to have done something about it.”

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