Jimmy Savile: West Yorkshire Police reveal abuse figures

From BBC News

Jimmy Savile’s offending took place in locations including hospitals, public toilets, a cemetery and nightclubs, allegations collated by police show.

Across West Yorkshire, 79 offences have been recorded against 71 people, the figures have revealed.

Thirty-five attacks by the broadcaster in hospitals involved complainants ranging in age from five to 45.

The West Yorkshire Police figures show Savile targeted 18 victims at private addresses in Leeds and Bradford.

The figures, from West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Newgreen victim and crime survey, suggest Savile was most prolific in his offending in the region – including at the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and the city’s St James’s Hospital – in the 1960s and 70s.

In January, Operation Yewtree detectives revealed they had recorded 214 alleged sex offences committed nationwide by the BBC presenter, who died in October 2011, aged 84.

By March, 450 claims had been made against Savile since the launch of Yewtree in October 2012.

According to the West Yorkshire Police figures, in the 1960s Savile struck 25 times in the region, with eight attacks at the LGI and two at St James’s Hospital. A further nine offences are reported to have happened in nightclubs.

In the following decade the presenter continued to prey on people at the LGI, according to complaints made to police, with 11 alleged offences committed there.

No attacks were reported at St James’ Hospital in the 1970s, although 11 offences were committed on what police described as private property during that decade and eight in other public places.

A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust declined to comment on the hospital allegations.

Savile’s hospital attacks

• 29 at Leeds General Infirmary
• 2 at St James’s
• 2 at High Royds
• 1 at Dewsbury
• 1 at LGI or St James (unknown)

Savile’s ‘public’ attacks

• 1 restaurant
• 1 park
• 1 cemetery
• 1 charity event
• 3 business premises
• 1 school
• 1 public toilet
• 1 car park
• 2 hotels
• 1 railway station
• 1 in the a street

‘Pattern of offending’

Attacks in other hospitals in West Yorkshire have also been reported to police, with one at Dewsbury Hospital in the 1960s, and two separate attacks in High Royds Hospital at Menston, near Ilkley, which treated psychiatric patients, in the 1970s and 1980s.

The police figures show a total of 25 offences were committed against 24 victims in what the force described as public locations.

Ten of these were in nightclubs, with other attacks detailed in a cemetery, a public toilet, a railway station, a park, a street and two in hotels.

Savile’s alleged attacks on private property include 19 offences against 18 victims, with the youngest aged five and the oldest an 18 year old.

Seventeen of those offences were said to have happened in Leeds, one in Bradford and one at an undisclosed location.

In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: “It is important that any victims of either recent or past offences have the confidence to come forward.

“All reports are taken seriously and West Yorkshire Police assures victims that they will be treated in confidence with sensitivity and respect.”

Alan Collins, a lawyer representing some of the alleged victims of Savile, said the figures showed the presenter had been prepared to take risks to satisfy his needs.

He said: “I draw two conclusions from the statistics: one they provide corroboration there is a pattern of offending. It shows that Savile was a serial abuser operating with a particular MO (modus operandi).

“Secondly, it shows that he took risks, that he was an opportunist – the type of location that has been revealed by police is very diverse.

“And it shows that Savile was prepared to take risks in order to abuse children and young people.”

From BBC News