Jimmy Savile

The independent review led by Dame Janet Smith identified 72 people subjected to sexual offences connected with Savile's BBC activities, including rapes, over the period from 1959 to 2006. The reported incidents involved, among other locations, studios, dressing rooms and premises associated with BBC programmes.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

Savile regularly visited Duncroft Approved School in Surrey, and several former residents reported sexual assaults. Police questioned him in 2009 during an investigation that did not result in prosecution. Subsequent reviews identified numerous reported incidents connected with his visits.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

The Stoke Mandeville investigation identified 60 victims of abuse attributed to Savile over more than twenty years, including patients, visitors and staff. Six victims reported rape; severely disabled patients were among those targeted. Several informal complaints and one formal complaint had been made.

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

Beyond Leeds, Broadmoor and Stoke Mandeville, the Department of Health coordinated an extensive programme of investigations into Savile's links with numerous healthcare facilities. In total, 44 reports were published, illustrating the extent of his access to different institutions and examining local allegations and oversight failures.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

The Department for Education and several authorities investigated Savile's links with or allegations concerning schools and children's homes. Some investigations identified credible evidence, while others could not corroborate the allegations or establish a significant institutional association.

State of the evidence

Documented

The Leeds General Infirmary investigation gathered testimony of sexual abuse by Savile against patients, visitors and staff, including minors. It also examined his exceptional access to the hospital and the opportunities afforded by his celebrity and fundraising status.

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

The Leeds investigation established that Savile had unusually unrestricted access to the mortuary and had made shocking statements to employees about his interest in bodies and funeral objects. These matters fuelled suspicions of sexual acts involving corpses.

Attribution

Personally implicated

The independent Broadmoor investigation examined sexual assaults attributed to Savile against patients and staff, his extensive access to buildings and keys, and the influential role granted to him, particularly during a management task force in the late 1980s.

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

A compensation scheme funded in part by Savile's estate was challenged and subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal. More than two hundred claimants were potentially eligible to submit claims under the scheme.

State of the evidence

Documented

Several complaints concerning Savile had been examined by police and the CPS before his death without prosecution being brought. After 2012, prosecutor Alison Levitt's review concluded that some decisions had been influenced by excessive caution and that three cases could have been prosecuted if evidence had been properly considered together.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Protagonist not prosecuted

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

The joint Metropolitan Police and NSPCC report Giving Victims a Voice described the nationwide scale of reports: approximately 450 people had provided information concerning Savile and 214 offences had been recorded by police over a period exceeding fifty years.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

HMIC examined information held by police forces. The report identified five allegations of child sexual abuse recorded between 1958 and 2009 and two intelligence entries, and concluded that poor investigative quality and failures to share information had contributed to Savile's impunity.

State of the evidence

Documented

Newsnight had prepared an investigation into allegations against Savile in 2011 but decided not to broadcast it. Following the scandal's eruption in 2012, the Pollard Review examined whether the decision had been taken to protect the BBC's tribute programmes.

State of the evidence

Documented

ITV's broadcast of an Exposure documentary featuring testimony from former victims triggered a wave of new reports. The Metropolitan Police launched Operation Yewtree, which centralised allegations concerning Savile and other public figures.

State of the evidence

Documented