Savile's Glencoe home vandalised

Abusive slogans have been spray-painted on a house in the Scottish Highlands which belonged to disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile.

It is thought Savile, who died last year aged 84, may have abused hundreds of young girls and some boys over a 40-year period.

Police said the house at Allt Na Reigh in Glencoe was vandalised overnight but witnesses say it was during the day.

"Jimmy the beast" was written on the wall and the door was badly damaged.

Police are investigating allegations that Savile abused some 300 youngsters over a 40-year period

BBC Scotland reporter Andreas Wolff said he had been told that witnesses saw three men in their 20s throwing stones at the house and spray-painting the walls at about lunchtime on Sunday.

He said a black car was seen in front of the house with the doors wide open.

Police in Fort William are investigating.

Savile is alleged to have carried out abuse at a number of institutions, such as the high security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Leeds General Infirmary and the BBC.

The TV presenter and DJ, who was knighted in 1996, was a UK household name in the 1970s and 80s.

Savile bought the Glencoe cottage in 1998 and was described as an "adopted local" by community leaders after his death.

The cottage was to be sold earlier this year but the sale was halted by Savile's charitable trust, who announced plans to convert it into a respite centre for the disabled.

That plan has now been shelved after the charity announced it is to close down.