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oversight findingVerified

CPS publishes the Levitt review of the Jimmy Savile charging decision

On 11 January 2013 the Crown Prosecution Service published Alison Levitt QC’s review of decisions not to prosecute Jimmy Savile in 2009. In the causal graph this event strengthens Judicial independence erosion (court capture), a driver that strengthens Rule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score — a worsening welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 11 January 2013 the Crown Prosecution Service published Alison Levitt QC’s review of decisions not to prosecute Jimmy Savile in 2009. The review found that a prosecution should have been brought on the Surrey Police file. Starmer was DPP when the 2009 decision was taken and commissioned the later review.

Context

ITV’s Exposure documentary in October 2012 forced a reopening. Starmer asked Levitt, Principal Legal Advisor, to review. The published finding criticised the 2009 decision as wrong on the evidence then available. Starmer accepted the finding in public. He did not write Savile’s offences. He did not sit as the original reviewing lawyer on every minute of the 2009 file, but the DPP owns CPS charging policy.

The 2008 DPP appointment is a different date.

The Director of Public Prosecutions heads the Crown Prosecution Service. He decides charges and issues guidance; he does not sit as a jury, write statutes, or police the streets. A later review of a charging file is not a criminal conviction of the DPP.

Why it matters

It strengthens documented distrust of charging discretion without converting the DPP into the offender.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Keir Starmer

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.5 · verified

    Complex: he headed the CPS when the 2009 decision was taken and commissioned the 2013 review. Levitt wrote the finding. Savile committed the underlying offences.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.BBC — Savile: CPS says it should have prosecutedBBC · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.CPS — Levitt Review into CPS decision-making in relation to Jimmy SavileCrown Prosecution Service · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Crown Prosecution Service carries the official instrument or communique. BBC records the same dated act independently.

Established: publication on 11 January 2013 of a CPS review concluding that Savile should have been charged in 2009, commissioned and accepted while Starmer was DPP.

Not established: a criminal finding against Starmer personally, or that a 2013 review uniquely caused later IICSA recommendations.

Levitt wrote the finding. Savile committed the underlying offences.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies CPS publishes the Levitt review of the Jimmy Savile charging decision, not a later speech about CPS publishes the Levitt review of the Jimmy Savile charging decision.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to Complex: he headed the CPS when the 2009 decision was taken and commissioned the 2013 review. Levitt wrote the finding. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorKeir Starmer
  2. contributed toFactCPS publishes the Levitt review of the Jimmy Savile charging decision
  3. strengthensDriverJudicial independence erosion (court capture)
  4. strengthensIndicatorRule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). CPS publishes the Levitt review of the Jimmy Savile charging decision. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/uk-starmer-savile-levitt-review-2013

https://factrail.ai/facts/uk-starmer-savile-levitt-review-2013

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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