A former BBC driver accused of sex offences has been found dead.
David Smith, 67, from Lewisham, south-east London, had been due to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court for allegedly abusing a boy, 12, in 1984.
A warrant was issued for his arrest on Monday after he failed to attend court.
Smith was charged with two counts of indecent assault, two of indecency and one of a serious sexual offence as part of Operation Yewtree. The cause of his death is not yet known.
Smith was the first person to be charged under the investigation into historical cases of abuse, which was originally set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
What sort of checks did the BBC carry out on David Smith? Was it aware of his criminal record?
He was due to stand trial on Monday accused of sex offences carried out in 1984, but he already had a string of convictions.
In the 1970s, while working as a milkman, Smith committed offences against boys as young as two and eight, and later went on to abuse boys at a table tennis club.
There are also questions for the police. Why couldn't they trace Smith when the victim of the 1984 attack came forward in 2002? He was serving a jail sentence, so they must have had access to prison records.
Finally, should more have been done when the 67 year-old failed to turn up at court?
It might be thought that a defendant in a high-profile trial involving allegations of sexual offences against a child should have been closely monitored
It was alleged Smith met his victim at a swimming pool and invited him back to his flat, where he sexually abused him.
He also took the boy on a visit to the BBC studios at White City, in west London. During the journey, the boy claimed, he was indecently assaulted.
Historical abuseThe alleged victim's partner contacted police after she saw his response to the ITV documentary Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which was broadcast on 3 October 2012.
A previous attempt to track down Smith in 2002 had failed when police could not find him - even though he was in prison at the time.
Smith was a prolific sex offender whose first conviction was in 1966. He had 22 convictions for sexual offences against young boys.
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw said both the BBC and the police had questions to answer about Smith.
- Why the police were unable to trace him in 2002?
- Why the police took four hours to go to his home when he failed to turn up at court on Monday? Could they have done more?
- Whether the BBC knew about Smith's criminal record when he was employed as a driver?
Smith's barrister became concerned on Monday when his client failed to appear at court.
Police found him at his home address at about 14:20 GMT and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause of death is not yet known and a post-mortem examination will take place.
Yewtree is an inquiry into allegations of historical sexual abuse linked to the entertainment industry.
The operation has three strands. One concerns Savile's crimes exclusively, while a second strand relates to allegations against Savile and others.
The third strand concentrates on accusations that emerged as a result of the publicity surrounding Savile, but which are unconnected to him.
Smith was investigated under the third strand.
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