I think Jackson, just like Savile, successfully groomed large parts of society with his act.
Coincidentally, my mother grew up in Salford when Savile began his career there including dances for teenagers which she went to. It was well known that at those dances schoolgirls who were considered ‘not nice or respectable girls’ were sexually involved with him and his circle. But in the 60s it was blames much more on the girls involved rather than the male abusers.
Savile was also involved with a local divorced woman who had two daughters. In social terms in those days getting involved with a divorced woman, and a divorced woman having a man staying overnight and visiting her house regularly was really scandalous and not just the divorcee, but also her poor daughters, were socially really quite shunned and seen as not nice people. It wasn’t a wealthy area either, these were poor people.
My Mum thinks he was probably abusing those daughters now, that choosing the divorcee who was on the margins of society and not quite respectable was a deliberate act. She was more likely to feel she was gaining things from him that she couldn’t get elsewhere - fun and moving in trendy circles, respect off trendy people who would overlook her ‘moral failings’, money, presents. It made her more prone to explain away anything at home that didn’t feel right. We would probably say now that she was groomed alongside his daughters.
Anyway, the point of that is, that abusers can and do pick vulnerable families and exploit their weaknesses, particularly the weaknesses of their parents, to let the abuse happen. They are also very clever at picking families who won’t be believed if they do protest. Savile was adept at that and so was Jackson. He was good at picking families with parents who for various reasons, often financial or emotional shortcomings, would be prepared to either look the other way or go into denial about the abuse.
I don’t think you can believe that Jordy Chandler was an isolated mistake. I don’t believe adult men can once accidentally or mistakenly abuse a child and otherwise be sexually normal. I don’t think any man would do what he did to Jordy without being sexually attracted to male children in general. There was too much other stuff, the pictures of children being tortured, animal torture, teams of folders of nude children.
The 80s and 90s weren’t the eras of ‘we believe you’ and #metoo. Frequently in that era child abuse was something seen as best brushed under the carpet or dealt with in the family and even blamed on children. I don’t think the fact children that were groomed by him were prepared to testify in his defence at one point is at all surprising.
I don’t believe he was childlike because he was mentally ill. I’ve never heard of a mental illness that makes an adult man behave like a child. Mental disability, maybe, but Jackson was not a mentally disabled man, he did not have learning difficulties or developmental problems or brain damage. He was able to act very astutely and ably in other areas of his life.
I believe he was very like Saville. I think much of the doubt still exists because he was even more adept than Savile at picking victims who were likely to be disbelieved and effective at smearing them too.
I think the people who still believe he is innocent were extremely effectively groomed by Jackson too.