Savile hid 'in plain sight'
2013-01-11 17:06
London - The late entertainer Jimmy Savile committed more
than 200 sex crimes over more than half a century, with most victims children
and teens assaulted the length and breadth of Britain, from TV studios to
hospitals and even a hospice, a police report said on Friday.
Detectives said the scale of Savile's sex abuse was
"unprecedented in the UK".
They have recorded 214 offences allegedly committed by
Savile between 1995 and 2009, including 34 rapes, on victims aged 8 to 47.
In all, 450 people have come forward with information
about abuse by the late TV presenter.
The number of Savile's crimes is likely to rise further
as more victims' reports are officially recorded, said Detective Superintendent
David Gray, the chief investigating police officer.
The catalogue of abuse is the fullest accounting yet of
the allegations against Savile, a TV and radio personality who died in October
2011 at age 84.
Savile's elaborate funeral reflected his career as a
popular entertainer and tireless charity worker, but a documentary broadcast
late last year pulled the mask away, claiming that he was a serial sex offender
who traded on his celebrity to prey on vulnerable children.
"This whole sordid affair has demonstrated the
tragic consequences of what happens when vulnerability collides with
power," said Commander Peter Spindler, head of the police specialist crime
unit.
A report summarising the three-month police investigation
said Savile's victims ranged from a 10-year-old boy who said he was sexually
assaulted after he asked for an autograph to children who were groped when they
attended tapings of the music show "Top of the Pops", and pupils at a
school for troubled girls who were allegedly offered cigarettes and trips in
Savile's car in return for sex.
Hiding in plain sight
Police said Savile used his celebrity status to
"hide in plain sight", winning the trust of institutions and
targeting vulnerable individuals unlikely to speak out against him.
The report said Savile committed 57 offences at medical
establishments, including a hospice, 14 at schools, and 33 at television or
radio stations; 73% of his victims were under 18 and 82% were female, police
said.
"The details provided by victims of his abuse paint
the picture of a mainly opportunistic individual who used his celebrity status
as a powerful tool to coerce or control them, preying on the vulnerable or
star-struck for his sexual gratification," the report said.
Peter Watt of the National Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children said Savile was an "evil and manipulative man",
who "cunningly built his entire career around gaining access to vulnerable
children”.
Officials said Savile's abuse might have been brought to
light earlier had authorities pursued allegations against him more seriously.
Spindler said Savile's victims would be disappointed he
had not faced justice in his lifetime but could take comfort from authorities'
resolve not to let it happen again.
"The victims themselves will get some sense of
satisfaction from being heard," he said.
Savile, he said, "groomed a nation" for sex
abuse.
More reports
A parallel report drawn up by senior prosecutor Alison
Levitt and also published on Friday faulted officials for not pursuing
allegations more vigorously.
Levitt's report noted that several women had spoken to
police about Savile between 2007 and 2008, but no charges were brought, in part
because the women declined to testify in court.
Levitt said police could have tried harder to get them to
speak out, noting in particular that the women weren't told that other victims
had corroborated their accounts.
"Having spoken to the victims I have been driven to
conclude that had the police and prosecutors taken a different approach a
prosecution might have been possible," she wrote.
- AP
