Pressure is growing on the Defence Secretary to reverse the ban on soldiers carrying Dennis Hutchings’s coffin - after it emerged that even Jimmy Savile was given a military funeral.

       The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has insisted that Mr Hutchings, who was on trial when he died after contracting Covid-19, is prevented from having military pallbearers because he was not a serving soldier at the time of his death.

       But Mr Hutchings’ family have pointed out that even Jimmy Savile, the BBC presenter, now reckoned to be the most prolific sex offender in recent British history, was given the honour of seven Royal Marines carrying his coffin.

       They suspect Mr Hutchings is being deprived of a military funeral because the 80-year-old had been charged over a fatal shooting in Northern Ireland almost 50 years ago. Mr Hutchings, who was seriously ill with kidney failure that required dialysis three times a week, was unable to clear his name because of his untimely death from Covid.

       ‘Support the family’

       His son John Hutchings, 48, said on Friday: “It is shocking that my dad is being refused military pallbearers after serving 26 years in the Army and yet Jimmy Savile had Royal marines carry his coffin. How can they give Jimmy Savile a military send off but not my father? It’s disgusting.”

       John Hutchings is now writing to Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, to urge him to reverse its decision ahead of a funeral on Armistice Day that will draw thousands of veterans.

       Johnny Mercer, the former defence minister who became a close friend of Mr Hutchings and accompanied him to the trial, said: “I don’t know why we have to go round this merry-go-round, which makes the MoD and ministers look stupid. Get on with it and support the family. Dennis was convicted of nothing and they should stand up for their people.”

       Mr Mercer, a Conservative MP in Plymouth, where Hutchings’ funeral will take place, added: “It is even more extraordinary, given this Secretary of State is a Northern Ireland veteran himself.

       “I just don’t know when the moral compass gets taken out and replaced by political expediency. Some things are very clear, and this is one of them.”

       Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84, never served in the military but had close ties to the Royal Marines. He was even awarded a green beret, which was buried with him following his funeral at Leeds Cathedral.

       Rumours had dogged him for years and, following his death, Savile was unmasked as a prolific sex offender who had abused children and pensioners on the BBC’s premises, in schools and in hospitals including Broadmoor, the high security psychiatric hospital for which he was given a set of keys.

       It was reported in 2013 that Devon and Cornwall Police had launched an investigation into allegations that Savile had abused children at the Royal Marines’ main training camp at Lympstone, near Exeter. It was unclear if the alleged victims were the children of serving soldiers or cadets.

       In a statement last week, the MoD insisted that Mr Hutchings could not have military pallbearers from his regiment because he was not a serving soldier. Mr Hutchings was a Regimental Corporal Major in the Life Guards, part of the Household Cavalry.

       The MoD said the Life Guards “does not provide regimental pallbearers for retired personnel” and that therefore Mr Hutchings was “not entitled” to the honour.

       Mr Hutchings, a great-grandfather, contracted Covid-19 after flying from his home in Cornwall to Belfast for the court case.

       The prosecution caused deep anger among the veteran community, while Boris Johnson has been seriously embarrassed by his Government’s failure to prevent former soldiers from being investigated over fatalities almost half a century ago.

       Mr Hutchings was charged with attempted murder over the fatal shooting of John Patrick Cunningham, a 27-year-old man with serious learning difficulties, who was shot in the back by the Army as he ran from a patrol in a field in County Armagh.

       Mr Hutchings denied firing the fatal bullets and insisted he shot into the air to get Cunningham to stop. A second soldier, who has since died, allegedly told Mr Hutchings that he had fired the fatal shots.