Ray Teret, a close friend of disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile, has been found guilty of raping and indecently assaulting schoolgirls in Britain.

Teret, who was also a DJ, attacked 11 victims throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

A crown court jury in Manchester reached their verdicts after hearing that Teret used his status as a local celebrity to single out vulnerable girls in nightclubs and discos.

He took one victim back to his flat and raped her while Savile was present.

The court was told that after the attack Teret told the 15-year-old: "You should be thanking us."

Teret was a DJ on the once famous pirate station Radio Caroline. He also worked at Picadilly Radio in Manchester and performed in nightclubs and youth discos run by Jimmy Savile.

As Savile's flatmate and friend, Teret was the man who fixed it for Jim.

One man who knew him well told Sky News: "He loved Savile to bits."

Video producer Lez Barstow worked with the DJ for eighteen months in the 1990s helping him to put together a showreel which Teret hoped would help kickstart a career in television.

"Savile was a very influential guy. He certainly had an influence on Ray's development over the years. Ray Teret idolised him. He wanted to be a very successful broadcaster like Savile and I think he felt he had been overlooked," the producer said.

Barstow said that Teret, who's nickname was "Ugly", had an inflated idea of his own attraction to the opposite sex.

"He always seemed a bit of a fantasist. Certainly he thought he was irresistible. I remember one incident where he was talking about his sex life and he was boasting about his conquests saying he was having sex with four different women every day."

Offences came to light after Savile scandal

Teret's offences finally came to light following the publicity surrounding the Jimmy Savile scandal in 2011.

The first of his victims contacted police in October 2012 and Teret was arrested the following month.

According to police the ensuing publicity caused a domino effect prompting a number of Teret's other victims to come forward.

Detective Chief Inspector Graham Brock of Greater Manchester Police said: "This case has attracted a lot of media interest due to Teret's status and friendship with the late Jimmy Savile."

"And it is clear that Teret revelled in his association with Savile and used that cult of celebrity to meet - and rape - impressionable underage girls".

"We also must acknowledge that it was the Jimmy Savile scandal, and the mass publicity it generated, that encouraged these women to break their decades of silence and speak out, exposing Teret for the dangerous sexual predator he is."

"There are no positives to take from Savile's appalling crimes, but by prompting Teret's victims to come forward, someone who is still alive has now been brought before the courts and finally made to answer for their heinous crimes."

"But it is important we look past the lurid headlines."

"This was not the trial of Jimmy Savile...we need to focus on the victims who not only suffered appalling abuse at the hands of Teret but also suffered in silence for decades, fearing they would not be believed, that it was their fault or that it would tear their families apart."

Teret will be sentenced at Minshull Street crown court in Manchester later this month.