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Jimmy Savile abuse report set to reveal accounts of sex offences in dozens of NHS hospitals Jimmy Savile 'wore huge rings made from the glass eyes of dead bodies' abuse report finds
(about 3 hours later)
Findings of a series of major investigations by NHS hospitals into allegations of abuse by disgraced presenter Jimmy Savile will be published today. Disgraced DJ and presenter Jimmy Savile subjected patients in NHS hospitals across the country to "truly awful" sexual abuse for more than four decades, a series of chilling reports have revealed.
The inquiries were prompted after a review by the Metropolitan Police revealed a number of shocking claims relating to Jimmy Savile sexually abusing victims in a number of hospital settings, including within the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust area and the high-security psychiatric Broadmoor Hospital. Savile's victims at hospitals ranged from five-years-old to pensioners and included men, women, boys and girls, who were patients, visitors and staff, an investigation into claims of abuse at 28 NHS hospitals including Broadmoor psychiatric hospital has found.
Kate Lampard, who was appointed by the Department of Health to oversee the investigations, chief investigators and chief executives of NHS trusts will present the findings at a press conference in London this morning. Investigators were given "macabre accounts" of Savile "acting unacceptably" with dead bodies in the at Leeds General Infirmary’s mortuary.
Exposure: The Other Side Of Jimmy Savile, a documentary shown on ITV in October 2012, ultimately led to a joint review by the Metropolitan Police and NSPCC into allegations that the television presenter abused women, girls and boys. One witness was cited in the report as saying he “wore huge rings that he said were made from the glass eyes of dead bodies” there.
The findings of the review, published in January last year, saw 214 criminal offences, including 34 rapes, recorded against Savile's name across the UK between 1955 and 2009. The investigation heard the entertainer claimed to have "interfered with the bodies of deceased patients".
Uncovering the scale of his depravity in their report, detectives said the Top Of The Pops presenter sexually abused a teenager at a hospice, one of 14 medical sites he used to prey on his victims. Dr Sue Proctor, who led the investigation into his abuse at LGI, said a student nurse recalled a conversation with Savile in which he claimed he performed sex acts on the dead.
He also committed 14 offences at schools across the country, partly when children had written to him for his popular BBC series Jim'll Fix It. She said there is no way of verifying the claims regarding corpses, but said it should be considered in context that controls around access to the mortuary in the 1980s were "lax".
A national investigation known as Operation Yewtree was launched after the abuse claims. At Broadmoor, investigators found "clear failings" in the way access to wards was controlled, as Savile had keys allowing him unrestricted access to ward areas within the security perimeter.
Detectives have run the investigation in three strands - allegations involving Savile, those involving Savile and others, and those involving others. Female patients there in the 1980s were often required to strip and bathe in front of staff, during which Savile would often watch and sometimes made inappropriate comments, the report found.
Further research by the NSPCC claimed at least 500 victims as young as two were abused by Savile. It said his often flamboyantly inappropriate" attitude towards women considered as part of his public act, "just Jimmy". The report also described an inappropriate culture of sexual relations between staff and patients.
The NSPCC report said the scale of Savile's offending inside Broadmoor was higher than previously thought, with Thames Valley Police having received 16 reports of abuse by him inside the special hospital. Fewer assaults were reported to have taken place at Broadmoor than other hospitals, but the inquiry attributed the smaller number of complaints to an atmosphere of fear among staff as to what might happen if they did report incidents.
It also describes how some awe-struck civil servants erroneously referred to the Top Of The Pops presenter as “doctor”, unaware of the trauma he was inflicting on some youngsters behind hospital doors. Members of staff at the LGI also failed to take complaints of abuse to senior managers, who could have acted to prevent it from happening.
The figures show the most common age group for Savile's victims was 13 to 15 - and the youngest alleged victim was just two years old. Jimmy Savile wrote to Margaret Thatcher seeking donations for Stoke Mandeville The reports on LGI, which Savile had a 50-year-association with, and Broadmoor are the most extensive to emerge. It comes after allegations that he had abused children were broadcast during an ITV documentary in 2012, which saw over 100 people come forward with accounts of abuse at the hands of Savile in hospitals.
In addition, fears that Savile abused children in more than 20 children's homes and schools across England are also being investigated. This prompted individual investigations by hospital trusts, which was overseen by Kate Lampard QC for the Department of Health.
Allegations dating back to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s have been handed to the Department for Education (DfE) following a review of documents by the Metropolitan Police. The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is expected to issue an apology in the Commons later over the "opportunistic sexual predator’s" actions.
Local authorities and other relevant institutions have been asked to further investigate the claims, Education Secretary Michael Gove said in a written statement. NHS chiefs described the findings of the investigations as "truly awful" in a joint statement, while the current chief executives of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and West London Mental Health NHS Trust, which covers Broadmoor, apologised to victims.
Among children's homes and schools to be further investigated are Henshaw School for the Blind, one of four institutions in Savile's birthplace of Leeds, and a Barnardo's children's home in the London Borough of Redbridge. The inquiry into his activities at LGI after he started his association in 1960 included the testimonies of 60 people who gave accounts of their experiences with Savile - 33 of these were patients. Three of these incidents were rapes, the investigators said.
Children's homes and schools in focus are spread across England, including Bournemouth, Devon, Gloucestershire, Leeds, London and Manchester among others. The Leeds team said 19 of those who came forward were under 16 years old and the age range was five to 75. They said the majority were teenagers but 19 victims were hospital staff - all women.
PA At Broadmoor, investigators found sexual relationships between staff and patients were tolerated in what was a "clear, repeated failure of safeguarding standards".
Eleven complaints of sexual abuse were reported to investigators, involving three children, six patients and two members of staff.