Jimmy Savile investigator warns other 'powerful' predators 'hide in plain sight' - 'they are protected'

A Jimmy Savile investigator has warned of "powerful" high-profile men hiding "in plain sight" as shamed Russell Brand is jailed for rape and sexual assault. Brand, 51, was once one of the most famous comedians and TV figures in the UK but on Monday he was handed a 10-and-a-half-year jail term. He will join the list of disgraced celebrities who have been convicted of repulsive sexual crimes, such as Jimmy Savile and Harvey Weinstein. Meirion Jones, an investigative journalist, played a pivotal role in exposing Savile and lifting the lid on his horrific crimes. He has now warned there are other powerful people in the UK being "broadly protected" as he sits down with the Mirror's Nicola Thorp to discuss the Brand trial on YouTube show Sense Check. At Brand's sentencing, the judge said the comedian harboured a "casual arrogant disregard to any woman's right to say no to you" while his fame meant he believed "you could act when you liked and how you liked". The judge added that evidence in the case showed his entourage during the peak of his celebrity had "indulged your dreadful behaviour". On an episode of the Mirror's new Sense Check YouTube series, Meirion claimed to host Nicola that some "powerful" people are still being "protected" and called for a change in the system to prevent this. He said: "I think we've all heard allegations about several other media celebrities, and not just the media. There are some other very powerful people in Britain who I have been told very, very serious allegations about sexual abuse, rape, and it's still the case that they are broadly protected. "The legal system, which essentially it depends how much money you get, how much justice you get. And a lot of these people are still being protected, and it really does need to be challenged." Meirion helped to expose BBC star Savile while he was working at Newsnight. In the Sense Check episode, Meirion highlighted the parallels between Savile and Brand, and how both operated out in the open. Nicola said: "Savile in the 80s... you look back at footage now and just go, well, how did anybody not know? Or how could anyone possibly claim not to know?" Meirion responded: "And Russell Brand is in that category again. Everything you always saw, I mean he was openly saying what he was doing." Discussing the now infamous and disturbing 2007 radio interview between Savile and Brand - where the comedian offered up his personal assistant to give Savile a massage - Meirion said: "Yeah, it's in plain sight, as you say." He also told Nicola: "Anyone who is in the industry knows stories about Brand and it's astonishing it went on so long and in plain sight." Savile died in October 2011, aged 84, but he was exposed as one of the UK's most prolific sexual abusers after his death. The episode with Nicola Thorp and Meirion Jones will be out on YouTube. New episodes of the Mirror's show Sense Check are available on YouTube. Subscribe to the Pod Save The King YouTube channel to make sure you don’t miss an episode www.youtube.com/@MirrorSenseCheck.