Ex-policeman may have acted on behalf of Savile Jimmy Savile ... questions over what the police knew and when. LONDON: A former policeman may have intervened on behalf of the disgraced BBC star Jimmy Savile in a 2009 investigation into sex-abuse claims, a British watchdog reviewing police failures to uncover the scandal before his death has found. The former police inspector in West Yorkshire, England, allegedly contacted his counterparts in Surrey, near London, before they interviewed Savile about claims he abused residents at a school for troubled girls in the 1970s, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said in a statement. Savile said the officers would go to his home for tea and that they "read and destroyed" letters he received from people trying to blackmail him. In the October 2009 interview, Savile "made various comments about knowing senior police officers" in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds, where he lived, according to a report on January 11 by Surrey Police. Savile said the officers would go to his home for tea and that they "read and destroyed" letters he received from people trying to blackmail him, it said. Savile, who died in 2011 at the age of 84, was known for hosting the BBC's Top of the Pops program and for his charity work with children. The publicly funded broadcaster was plunged into crisis after its competitor ITV aired a story in October alleging Savile abused girls for decades. George Entwistle, then director general of the BBC, stepped down after revelations his news division had dropped its own investigation into Savile's abuse and instead aired tributes following his death. The BBC was sued earlier this month for so-called vicarious liability by an unidentified victim, and lawyers have said dozens of other lawsuits are pending. Investigators with the IPCC will determine whether the former West Yorkshire police officer, who wasn't named, should face a formal investigation into his conduct. While an internal review by West Yorkshire Police hasn't uncovered any wrongdoing, the department said Wednesday in a statement it would co-operate with the IPCC and that it sought a "transparent understanding of what happened." "We are now carrying out further inquiries to obtain a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding the contact between West Yorkshire Police officers and Savile" at his home, the police force said. Surrey Police started investigating Savile in May 2007, after a woman reported witnessing abuse decades earlier. The probe, called Operation Ornament, eventually identified two-dozen victims or witnesses and four women who gave statements. After Surrey Police sent Savile a letter requesting an interview, an unnamed police inspector in Leeds called them on June 8, 2009, and said he knew Savile personally, Surrey Police said in last month's report. The man said Savile had lost the letter and provided the TV star's telephone number to make further contact. The interview took four months to arrange and lasted 56 minutes, it said. The Metropolitan Police Service in London said in a separate report last month that Savile committed more than 200 criminal offences at BBC premises, in schools and in more than a dozen hospitals, mental homes and a hospice. Other offences are still being investigated. The Met, which received a complaint about Savile in 2003, and the Crown Prosecution Service, which decided not to charge the TV star following the Surrey probe, both issued reports seeking to explain their actions. The CPS said criminal charges could have been filed if the cases had been handled properly. The IPCC said it was seeking information from seven police forces to analyse their interactions with Savile or his victims. "All the forces that may have had intelligence concerning the late Jimmy Savile should now go back and consider all the relevant information and materials they possess," Rachel Cerfontyne, the IPCC's commissioner, said in the statement. This may be of little comfort to victims of crime but I hope that the IPCC can play some part in addressing what many see as a catalogue of institutional failings.