David Smith was a former [[BBC]] chauffeur and convicted pedophile with 22 prior convictions against young boys, the earliest of which dated back to 1966. He was the first person to face charges under [[Operation Yewtree]], the police investigation set up after the revelations of sexual abuse by BBC presenter [[Jimmy Savile]].[^1] Smith was found dead from a heroin overdose at his flat in Lewisham, south east London on the day before he was due to go on trial.[^1] ### BBC Employment and Criminal History Despite his extensive criminal record, Smith was employed by the [[BBC]] in the 1980s as a chauffeur who drove for Savile and other BBC celebrities, and was used to 'transport guests' to and from the BBC studios. The BBC faced questions over how they came to employ a convicted pedophile as a chauffeur during this period. Smith was charged with the sexual assault of a boy he had driven to the studios in 1984.[^1] The BBC carefully worded their statements to deny Smith's employment, stating they had "not found any record of David Smith being employed by or working for the BBC." This was because the BBC employed Smith through a private company off the books, using this arrangement to craftily infer he had never worked there. Court documents stated there was 'no evidence to suggest any connection' between Smith and Savile, though the former 'was contracted to work as a driver for the BBC in the relevant period'.[^1] ### BBC Off-Books Employment Practices A month prior to Smith's arrest in December 2012, the head of employee tax at the BBC, coincidentally also named David Smith, admitted before a parliamentary committee that 25,000 contracts covering around 1,500 workers had been issued on a freelance, off-books basis. He conceded that the use of so-called service companies, particularly by on-air 'talent,' allowed the BBC to "cut [its] exposure" in cases where the tax authorities ruled that the person involved was not a genuine freelancer. This practice of paying certain employees 'off the books' appeared designed for tax purposes but also served to limit the BBC's liability in cases involving employees like Smith.[^1] ### Victim Testimony and International Connections Two of David Smith's victims, Jason Little and Lee Sullivan, forfeited their anonymity in April 2014 to publicly accuse the BBC of covering up Smith's abuse after the corporation refused to admit he ever worked for them. Jason Little, 42, said he was assaulted in the world famous Television Centre by David Smith during several visits. Little stated that Smith got him a BBC pass and introduced him to scores of stars, including fellow pedophile Jimmy Savile. Little said he remembered seeing Savile on quite a few occasions and that Smith knew Savile, having seen them talking together.[^1] Little reported that Smith took him to the set of Saturday Superstore and Top of the Pops. More disturbingly, Little stated that Smith took him to parties with other men and children where they were given drugs so they could be attacked. Smith also took him to a big house outside Amsterdam where he was abused with other children, indicating connections to international child trafficking networks operating in the Netherlands.[^1] ### Chauffeur Networks David Smith was mentioned in a 2015 report regarding a private chauffeur company in London allegedly investigated after the 1979 disappearance of Martin Allen, the son of the personal chauffeur to the Australian High Commissioner. According to the boy's brother, it was standard practice for the high commission to supplement its regular drivers with stand-in and casual drivers from a particular chauffeur firm located just across the Thames. This chauffeur firm had, at various times, employed [[Sidney Cooke]], whose gang the "Dirty Dozen" would later be convicted and jailed for the torture and murder of three young boys in the 80s. Jimmy Savile's chauffeur, David Smith, is believed to have had links to the same car company in the late 70s.[^1] In October 2015, a victim of Jimmy Savile named Georgina Martin stated she was frequently driven to his home by up to five different drivers, one of whom she said she was 'pimped out' to. [^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.