Broadcaster Nicky Campbell has compared the manager of an Edinburgh pop band to paedophile Jimmy Savile in a new documentary.
In a new ITV documentary, Nicky, 62, looks at the dark side of Bay City Rollers who rose to fame in the 70s as well as highlights how manager Tom Paton abused band members and took boys from care homes to his home where they were forced to have sex.
Nicky, the broadcaster from Edinburgh, said: “Paton was similar to Savile in the way he groomed and abused people.
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“It’s that sense of entitlement, whether it’s Savile, Paton, whether it’s a teacher at a posh school. They can have what they want and there’s no repercussions.
“Paton spiralled into this dark criminal underworld of drug dealing. There’s some really murky stuff. The flats he rented out, the connections he had and the people who died.
“Yet at the same time, you’ve got these lads, 17, 18 years old, who wanted to be pop stars but to live the dream, there’s a deal with the devil.
“We should hang on to the magic but we shouldn’t forget the evil that was lurking.”
As the Mirror reports, Paton was sentenced in 1982 to three years in prison after he was convicted of molesting teenage boys. He died in 2009 aged 71.
Nicky – who revealed last year he was abused at school in Edinburgh in the 70s – speaks in the documentary to former Rollers guitarist Pat McGlynn, 65, who was abused by Paton.
On Pat’s first interview on screen about the ordeal, Nicky said: “Since I’ve been campaigning on this issue, I’ve been inspired by the guys I’ve talked to.
“I’ve had lots of very tearful conversations. One guy rang me and it’s the first time he confronted it for 50 years. He was sobbing and I started crying.
“That shows how you can bottle it up, then it all comes out. I think that was quite true with Pat.”
“I’ve had lots of very tearful conversations. One guy rang me and it’s the first time he confronted it for 50 years. He was sobbing and I started crying.
“That shows how you can bottle it up, then it all comes out. I think that was quite true with Pat.”
After TV star Savile died in 2011, he was unmasked as a prolific paedophile.
Secrets of the Bay City Rollers airs at 9pm on Thursday on ITV and ITVX.
