Jimmy Savile, former BBC personality who died last year, and now an accused pedophile, reportedly boasted IRA connections as a form of protection for himself.

The Mirror reports on Savile’s IRA threats and the terrifying warnings he issued to anyone who crossed him.

Savile once told a Sunday Mirror journalist that, “All I have to do is call my friends in the IRA. They’ll have someone waking up in hospital the next morning eating their breakfast through a f***ing straw.

“I know the IRA, men from the IRA, and you don’t need to ask these guys twice. I’m serious. Don’t f***ing think I’m not serious. I can get them done – just with a phone call. That’s all it takes, young man.”

Savile, who died last year at the age of 84, is currently being probed for severe allegations of widespread sexual abuse. A team of 10 from the Met’s Operation Yewtree are leading the probe with help from regional police forces, the NSPCC, and former ­detective Mark Williams-Thomas, a child protection expert.

The Met’s Commander Peter Spindler said: “We are dealing with alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale.”

Late last week Peter Watt, head of the NSPCC’s helpline, said: “It’s now looking possible that Jimmy Savile was one the most prolific sex ­offenders our organisation has ever come across.”

Despite having died a year ago at the age of 84, authorities believe that some victims have yet or will not come forward out of fear of the threats that Savile had made.

A source told the Mirror that:“He [Savile] boasted of knowing gangsters and men who you wouldn’t want to double cross. It is likely that some had been threatened with the IRA.”

“They [the victims] are still worried about ­coming forward. From all of the evidence ­gathered there is a clear picture ­developing of someone who not only abused vulnerable children but intimidated them and left them fearing for their lives.”

Once a presenter for BBC’s popular music program ‘Top of the Pops,’ Savile was constantly in the public eye. He often visited Ireland under the guise of doing charity work. Having once even been blessed by the Pope, Savile was keen to keep up appearances in order to make his crimes even harder to prove.

During one visit to Ireland, Savile found out about a friend who had died following a mugging. Speaking with a journalist, Savile threatened, “I want you to tell me what happened with **** *****. If you hear that someone has done this then I want you to tell me who straight away.

“I want to know names and I can have them waking up in hospital with every bone in their body broken.

“If someone has done this to **** ***** that makes them my enemy. And you don’t want to be my enemy.”

Williams-Thomas was informed of Savile’s threats and said that, “The pattern of behaviour which has emerged is that Savile’s victims felt in great fear of him and this has ­prevented many from speaking out then or ever since. Having researched Savile and knowing what I know, their fears were and are very ­genuine.

“What we’ve heard so far about Savile is the tip of the ­iceberg. It is clear there are people high up in organisations that either knew, suspected or turned a blind eye to the fact one of Britain’s biggest TV and radio stars was a prolific pedophile.”