A legal letter sent on behalf of Mark Thompson, the former director general of the BBC, raises questions about his assertions that he learned of accusations of sexual abuse against its longtime host Jimmy Savile only after leaving the corporation's top job.
In the letter, sent 10 days before Mr. Thompson left the BBC in September, lawyers representing him and another executive threatened to sue The Sunday Times in London over contentions in an article it was preparing that they had been involved in killing a BBC investigation of Mr. Savile.
Interviews show that the letter included a summary of the alleged abuse, including the allegation that some abuse might have occurred at the BBC.
According to people who have reviewed the private letter, it recounted that the proposed article in The Sunday Times magazine would "look at a number of allegations regarding the behavior of the late television and radio presenter, specifically that he took advantage of a series of young women. Some of the alleged assaults took place on BBC premises."
An aide to the former BBC chief said that although Mr. Thompson had orally authorized the sending of the letter, he had not known the details of its contents. "It's not clear if he was shown it, but he doesn't remember reading it," said the aide, a personal adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to give Mr. Thompson's version of events. Mr. Thompson declined to comment.
The timing and substance of the letter are significant because Mr. Thompson, who began work this week as president and chief executive of The New York Times Company, said in October that "during my time as director general of the BBC, I never heard any allegations or received any complaints about Jimmy Savile."
There were other moments during Mr. Thompson's final months at the BBC — involving brief conversations and articles appearing in London news media — when he might have picked up on the gravity of the Savile case. But the letter is different because it shows Mr. Thompson was involved in an aggressive action to challenge an article about the case that was likely to reflect poorly on the BBC and on him.
It came at a pivotal moment for Mr. Thompson. His appointment to The New York Times Company job was announced on Aug. 14, and the Sunday Times article was likely to appear in late September or early October, just as he was making the transition from London to New York.
The scandal exploded early last month when a rival television network broadcast a documentary on the sexual abuse accusations against Mr. Savile, the host of children's and pop music shows, who retired in the mid-1990s and died in October 2011. The revelation has led to a police investigation of hundreds of accusations of abuse, mostly from the 1970s, and it has also shaken the BBC, where lower-level editors killed the investigation by its "Newsnight" program in December 2011.
The existence of the letter from lawyers for the BBC was first reported last weekend by The Sunday Times. But only after its wording was described in interviews this week did it become clear the degree to which Mr. Thompson, in his final days at the BBC, had information at his fingertips about Mr. Savile's alleged abuse and the scuttled "Newsnight" investigation.
The letter appears to have been the last in a string of opportunities for Mr. Thompson, while director general, to have gotten a fuller picture of Mr. Savile and the "Newsnight" program.
Mr. Thompson said he was not aware of the "Newsnight" program before it was killed in early December, and no evidence has emerged to challenge that. He acknowledges that a BBC reporter mentioned it to him a couple of weeks later at a company reception. His interest piqued, he said, he raised the subject with news executives and was told that "Newsnight" had halted the investigation for journalistic reasons and that there was nothing for him to be concerned with. He said he was not told and did not ask about the substance of the inquiry.
In January and February, seven articles appeared in the London press reporting on the killed "Newsnight" program and the accusations against Mr. Savile. In August, as the rival television station was preparing its Savile exposé, more articles appeared previewing the documentary and again detailing the accusations. Although at least some of the articles were part of daily clippings of news articles sent to BBC executives, Mr. Thompson said he did not remember reading them.
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