Late BBC DJ was subject of at least 10 formal and informal complaints by victims going back to 1972, but none were taken seriously, report says

Jimmy Savile was given free rein to sexually abuse 60 people, including seriously ill eight-year-olds, over two decades at Stoke Mandeville hospital due to his gold-plated status as a celebrity fundraiser, an inquiry has found.



The late BBC DJ was the subject of at least 10 complaints going back to 1972, but none were taken seriously or raised with senior managers, according to the NHS investigation.

The victims included a girl aged eight or nine raped 10 times by Savile when she visited the hospital where her relatives worked.

The report by Dr Androulla Johnstone and Christine Dent for the NHS Health and Social Care Advisory Service describes Savile as “an opportunistic predator who could also on occasions show a high degree of premeditation when planning attacks on his victims”.

Between 1972 and 1985, nine informal verbal complaints and one formal report were made about Savile by his victims. The investigation found that none of the complaints were “either taken seriously or escalated to senior management”. The one formal complaint was dropped by the victim’s father due to her serious ill health.

“Consequently, no intelligence about Savile’s behaviour was gathered over the years and no action was taken,” the report states.

The report revealed that Savile’s charitable work with Stoke Mandeville to rebuild the hospital was supported and encouraged by Margaret Thatcher, the then prime minister. Savile visited Thatcher to show her drawings for the new building and asked her for a goodwill gesture of £1m from the government.

Kate Lampard, who carried out an independent review of Savile’s activities, said the activities of the celebrity across the NHS were “scarcely credible”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stoke Mandeville hospital near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

She said: “He used the opportunities that that access, influence and power gave him to commit sexual abuses on a grand scale.”

Lampard said that part of Savile’s status and influence that allowed him to abuse was as a result of encouragement from politicians, senior civil servants and NHS managers.

Despite the particular nature of Savile’s narcissistic and manipulative character, there were lessons to be learned about how to safeguard patients and young people in the NHS in future.

Jimmy Savile by the man who knew him best Read more

Lampard made a series of recommendations:

All hospitals and trusts should develop a policy for managing visits by celebrities and other VIPs.



All NHS trusts should appoint a voluntary services manager.



Trusts must make sure staff and volunteers are trained in safeguarding every three years.



There should be criminal records checks of staff and volunteers every three years.



All trusts must devise robust strategies covering access by patients and visitors to the internet and social media networks.



The report revealed that over the past four decades three doctors also abused children at the hospital.

A separate investigation found that Savile’s older brother, Johnny Savile, was the subject of seven sexual assault allegations by women – five of whom were patients – at Springfield hospital in south-west London between 1978 and 1980.



Savile’s association with Stoke Mandeville dates back to 1969, when he began work as a volunteer porter and starstruck managers gave him unrestricted access to the hospital grounds. The DJ immediately “caused annoyance and distress” to junior staff because of his constant sexual innuendo, the report found, but he was feted by senior managers.

In 1980, Savile’s grip on the hospital tightened when government ministers appointed him as chief fundraiser of the new National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC). This had the consequence of the hospital becoming dependent on Savile’s funds for 20 years and allowed him to attack a new set of victims in young fundraisers.

Stoke Mandeville hospital ‘still putting children at risk’ Read more

Several more people came forward with allegations against Savile after the inquiry into his abuse at Stoke Mandeville had closed. These included a girl who was abused by Savile at the age of eight or nine when she visited the hospital, where her relatives worked. She told investigators how the abuse quickly escalated to the point where Savile raped her.

She said she was raped on possibly 10 occasions. The first rape took place in a fairly public area. When she cried and complained of the pain during the abuse, Savile told her to stop crying and not to tell anyone. She said Savile was extremely strong and revered by all around him.

Another victim, a woman who worked at the hospital in the early 1980s as a young adult, said she was told by staff to stay away from him as he was a “dirty old man”. On meeting him in the porter’s lodge, she said, he put his hands around her face and tried to thrust his tongue down her throat.

She was invited to share a ride with Savile in his Rolls-Royce, and when she did not turn up he was abusive and threatening. She was told not to report his actions because the “paraplegic centre” might be closed down.

Another woman, who was treated at the hospital after a road accident at the age of 16, said she was sexually assaulted by Savile on two occasions. As he assaulted her the second time Savile told her: “Now then, you will be beautiful again.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Health secretary Jeremy Hunt apologises to those abused by Jimmy Savile at the Stoke Mandeville hospital

Six child patients said they were abused by Savile after encountering him in the corridors of the hospital wearing only their hospital nightgowns, leaving them with “little defence against inappropriate touching by Savile”.

Savile’s modus operandi was to frequently carry out serious sexual assaults – including pinning a victim’s arms while slipping his hand under their clothing – in public situations. The disgraced BBC presenter would commit rape when alone in private with his victim.

“Much to his victims’ embarrassment and distress, Savile appeared to revel in serious assaults on occasions when many other people were present but his victims could not draw attention to what was happening,” the report states.

Lampard said: “Savile’s celebrity and his roles as a volunteer and fundraiser … gave him power and influence within NHS hospitals which mean his behaviour, which was often evidently inappropriate, was not challenged as it should have been.”

Savile’s ability to pursue his activities without effective challenge was aided by fragmented hospital management arrangements, social attitudes at the time, including reticence in reporting and accepting reports of sexual harassment and abuse, and greater deference than today towards those in positions of influence and power.”