Jimmy Savile knight-mare as paedophile is subject of artwork

The portrait of the serial pervert went on show at a Staffordshire college which initially refused to remove the artwork despite the outcry it sparked.

However chiefs confirmed today the piece had been removed.

Bosses at South Staffordshire College had last night defended the controversial artwork, depicting the paedophile in an heroic pose in front of the BBC's HQ, saying it was art.

It was hanging in an art gallery at its campus in Lichfield. The portrait occupied pride of place on a main wall in an exhibition of student pieces - which members of the public are free to walk in and view.

The sinister image was easily on display to youngsters at the college – some of whom are the same age as Savile's victims.

The disturbing portrait – believed to have been painted by a student – shows smirking Savile dressed in a suit of armour with a trademark cigar hanging from his mouth.

One member of staff said tutors had at first refused to take down the offensive picture despite a barrage of complaints.

Cleaner Hannah Mattison, aged 24, was dumbstruck when she first saw the painting in the college's £3 million School of Art, Design and Media facility last Thursday.

She said: "I first saw it when I was cleaning an art room and it was stacked in a corner.

"I was offended but I didn't say anything because it was in a closed-off area, but after they moved it to a public area I felt I had to say something. I was disgusted when I saw it up there.

"The head of art won't say who did it because they are a student.

"He won't take it down and says it is a piece of art and people will interpret it in different ways.

"I worry what effect it could have if a young person who's being abused themselves saw it.

"They haven't portrayed Savile as a nasty paedophile but as a kind of hero wearing a suit of armour. He is not a hero or icon – he's a serial abuser of children and to show him as anything else is wrong. How would people feel if I painted a picture of Fred West and displayed that in a college?

"I've been told it's art but it's not.

"If it is was in an adult gallery it might be different, but not when it's around children. It is morally wrong." The OFSTED-rated 'Good' college, which has around 6,000 full and part-time students across its four campuses, caters for students as young as 14.

The gallery – named the Wedge Gallery – is said to exhibit the work of 'professional artists and emerging designers.' One time national hero Savile was exposed as the UK's most prolific sexual predator after his death in 2011 aged 84.

Hundreds of victims have since come forward to claim he used his fame toprey on vulnerable youngsters. One victim who Savile preyed upon at Duncroft Approved School for Girls in Staines said he had treated the children's home like a "paedophile sweetshop".

Last week it emerged police advised prosecutors not to pursue charges against Savile following a 2009 interview.

The college released a statement last night saying: "The artwork in question is intended to be an ironic comment on organisations that ignore or cover up important issues, going some way to explain why Jimmy Savile's abuse continued undetected for so many years.

"It has received a number of positive comments on this basis and one expression of concern, from a member of South Staffordshire College's non-teaching staff.

"The person in question has now had the opportunity to discuss the artwork and the college has assured her that the well-being and safeguarding of its learners are at the very heart of its activities, indeed this is one of the concepts behind the painting." But chiefs today confirmed the picture was no longer up.