LONDON (Reuters) - A friend of Jimmy Savile, the late British television presenter who was unmasked after his death in 2011 as one of Britain's worst sex offenders, has been found guilty of a string of sex crimes dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.
Ray Teret was convicted on Friday at Manchester Crown Court of seven charges of rape and 11 of sexual assault on 11 victims.
At the time of the attacks over 40 years ago, Teret, 73, was a popular Manchester DJ who had also worked for Savile as a chauffeur.
"He used this status to target young and vulnerable girls who were impressionable and in some cases simply star struck," the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.
“He singled his victims out for attention, using charm and flattery, before subjecting them to traumatic and callous assaults," the CPS added. "Some he groomed over a period of time, whilst others he assaulted soon after he first approached them. Some of the victims were only 13 years of age."
Teret is the latest to be convicted of sex crimes in the wake of revelations that Savile, once one of the BBC's top presenters, had sexually abused hundreds of victims over decades.
Dave Lee Travis, another radio DJ, was convicted in September and entertainer Rolf Harris was jailed in July.
Savile, also famous for his charity fund-raising efforts, preyed largely on children at hospitals and BBC premises.
The revelation shocked Britain and plunged the publicly-funded BBC into crisis. A 2012 report cleared BBC bosses of covering up allegations against Savile but a police watchdog report last year voiced concerns about police mistakes.
Teret will be sentenced on Dec. 11.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Stephen Addison)