Another children’s TV icon has fallen by the wayside as 80s favourite Thomas the Tank Engine has been implicated in a sex-abuse scandal following a two-month long Operation Yewtree sting.
Mr Tank Engine was arrested earlier this morning, in a dawn raid, and was led away, red faced, by police. Investigators then turned over his station, removing possessions such as mobile phones, photo books, laptops and cameras. According to Detective Inspector Keith Wickham, Thomas kept these mementos of his alleged victims in a box labelled ‘lost property’.
The arrest of Thomas happened at 6:45am this morning, following allegations from two former stars of Thomas and Friends, Annie and Clarabel.
Thomas has been a favourite of children on ITV since 1984, and has delighted children for many years since. Thomas split with ITV for the Cartoon Network, after his third season in 1992 was said to be fraught with ‘creative differences’.
Sir Topham Hatt, AKA the Fat Controller, commented at the time:
Thomas was out of control by this point. Fame had gone to his head. He was snorting coke off hookers every night for months.
The move to Cartoon Network, according to the Fat Controller, made Thomas impossible to work with, and it was here the alleged assaults happened.
I always suspected something was awry. Annie and Clarabel would emerge from the train shed very quiet, one behind the other – as though they were embarrassed about something. I should have spoke up at the time.
Details of the assaults are still to emerge, but it is believed Thomas’ co-star Gordon has been implicated in the history of abuse. The Bugle attempted to reach Gordon for comment, but he was not available at the time due to a Merseyrail strike.
A statement from the arresting officer, Detective Inspector Keith Wickham, reads:
At 6:45am this morning officers and I arrested a well-known children’s entertainer by the name of Mr Tank Engine. The arrest was part of Operation Yewtree and the allegations are extremely serious. Some items, believed to belong to victims, were removed from Mr Tank Engine’s home and were contained in a box marked ‘Lost Property’.
The Detective Inspector said more details would be revealed as they receive them.
