Max Clifford: Many things happened in the sixties that wouldn't happen today

Publicist Max Clifford described to ITV News last month how sexual abuses could have gone undetected in the 1960s and 70s because people were less aware of the risks of exploitation.

He was speaking about stars of the time who had contacted him in the wake of the Jimmy Savile abuse claims and were concerned about being implicated.

In an exclusive interview with ITV News' Crime Correspondent Jon Clements in November, he said he had never heard of the word 'paedophile' in the 60s.

Asked if he was concerned he may have witnessed anything that could be construed as abuse, he said it was a frenetic time to work in show business and that it was all too long ago to be sure what went on.

Mr Clifford, who was a music publicist at the time, said he had been contacted by many stars from the 60s and 70s who were concerned about being caught up in the allegations against Savile.

He said that such concerns were often based merely on the fact the star in question had posed for photographs with girls and Savile or appeared on one of his shows.

His comments were made before police questioned Mr Clifford as part of Operation Yewtree - the Metropolitan Police investigation into historic sexual offences in the aftermath of the Savile abuse scandal.

His arrest is believed not to be related to any claims involving Jimmy Savile, and is under the strand of the operation called 'Others'.

Mr Clifford said in November that he hoped the Metropolitan Police would take care to differentiate between those who were intentionally manipulating young girls, and those who got caught up in the same world but were not paedophiles.

"To me there is a world of difference between the two and what I'm hoping is that the police get to the people like Jimmy Savile that were obviously manipulating these young girls," he said.