I hesitate to mention what became known as the Ealing vicarage rape, since this post could be accused of employing a particularly dreadful crime (or more narrowly Jill Saward’s recent death) to belabour the BBC, but the contempt shown by the nation’s most trusted broadcaster for the citizens of that nation I think just about merits what follows.
Many readers will recall the incident. On 6 March 1986, Robert Horscroft, Martin McCall and Christopher Byrne broke into the vicarage of St Mary’s, Ealing. There they confronted Jill Saward, the daughter of the vicar. At knifepoint, McCall ordered her to strip. In a prolonged assault, he then—the following are her words—‘raped, buggered and indecently assaulted’ her. Byrne sexually assaulted her. She was then tied up.
The end of this notorious case for McCall was that he was sentenced to five years for rape and five years for aggravated burglary. Whilst still in prison, he made death threats against Ms Saward. Unlike Byrne, he didn’t change his name on release.
And the BBC? Oh, it’s just that in the 1990s, McCall was employed at Television Centre as a security guard. The Television Centre where members of the public would make up studio audiences, that one. If Ms Saward couldn’t forgive McCall and Byrne (she forgave Horscroft, who played no part in the rape), I fail to see why the BBC should. No doubt it was all—conveniently—the arm’s-length fault of a subcontractor. Why they don’t just rebrand themselves Sex Criminals ‘R’ Us is beyond me.
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