Jimmy Savile: police heard seven sexual assault complaints before he died

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Created on Friday, 26 October 2012 00:00

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Jimmy Savile: police heard seven sexual assault complaints...

Scotland Yard team investigating Jimmy Savile abuse claims say Operation Yewtree now being treated as major incident

Sandra Laville, crime correspondent

At least seven alleged victims of Jimmy Savile made complaints of sexual assault against him to police while the TV presenter was still alive, according to the Scotland Yard team investigating the abuse scandal.

Officers said Operation Yewtree had been contacted by around 300 alleged victims and is being treated as a major incident. "We are dealing with a major criminal investigation. This is a watershed moment for child abuse investigations and Yewtree will be landmark investigation," said Commander Peter Spindler

As police prepare to make a number of arrests of individuals who allegedly sexually assaulted children with Savile or alone, Scotland Yard revealed that a criminal inquiry was mounted into an alleged indecent assault of a girl on BBC premises in Shepherd's Bush more than 30 years ago.

The complaint, which was investigated by a Scotland Yard officer, was one of at least seven allegations of sexual assault made to police while Savile was alive. None of the complaints led to him being prosecuted.

Spindler said the investigation into Savile in the 80s emerged after a retired Met officer came forward in the last week to inform his team that he had investigated a complaint of indecent assault on BBC premises.

The officer said the victim claimed to have been indecently assaulted in a caravan on the BBC TV centre site, but that there had not been enough evidence to bring a prosecution.

Spindler said on Thursday that his officers were now looking for the file on the case.

He also revealed that a woman had come forward to the Met police in 2003 to complain of an alleged assault by Savile in the early 1970s.

It has already emerged that four victims came forward to Surrey police who investigated Savile in 2007 and passed a file to the CPS. The CPS decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute in 2009.

A boy from the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey is also known to have told police that he was assaulted by the celebrity.

Spindler said the number of victims who had now come forward over the last three weeks alleging sexual assaults by the late TV celebrity and other living individuals was around the 300 mark. "It is quite staggering the numbers of women – and they are predominantly women – who have come forward," Spindler said.

Detectives have recorded 114 alleged crimes of sexual assault and serious sexual assault, mostly relating to Savile but also to other individuals from a number of different institutions. Officers are using the Holmes computer database, normally use in homicide inquiries.

Of the 300 alleged victims, the majority had made complaints about Savile but a number of allegations related to living individuals, Spindler said.

He said detectives were now drawing up an arrest strategy, suggesting arrests might be imminent.

Living individuals being investigated include people who have allegedly abused with Savile and others who abused independently of the BBC TV and radio star.

Working with the child exploitation and online protection unit, a risk assessment was being made in each case. Those individuals who might still be in positions which put children are at risk would be detained first, Spindler said.

Searches are being carried out at Savile's cottage in Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands and other premises as part of the criminal investigation into possible living abusers.

Forces across the country are now involved in what amounts to one of the biggest child abuse inquiries ever mounted.

Spindler praised the victims who had come forward and said their accounts all corroborated each other. "That is why we can be so confident of their accounts. We believe them because they are all saying the same thing," he said.

The inquiry involves 30 officers but is also drawing on detectives from homicide and rape teams at the Met.

Officers have spoken on the phone to 130 alleged victims so far in difficult and lengthy interviews of up to four hours a time.

"We are trying to speak to the victims as quickly as we can. This may be the first time that they have actually spoken in any detail of what happened and we don't underestimate how significant an event that is for them to describe sexual abuse as a child," Spindler said.

• This article was amended on Friday 26 October. An editing error meant that the number of alleged victims was missing from the second paragraph. This has been corrected.

Source: The Guardian UK, 25 October 2012