Jimmy Savile Complaints Were Ignored Stoke Mandeville Hospital Abuse Report Reveals

Complaints About Jimmy Savile Sex Abuse Were Ignored By Hospital Staff
|

• Savile enjoyed a 24 year campaign of abuse at Stoke Mandeville Hospital

• Victims included children as young as 8 and a pregnant woman

• Presenter molested one patient as she recovered from burns

• DJ boasted about having sex with corpses

• He discussed hospital funding with Margaret Thatcher

• Savile's brother Johnny committed sex attacks at a London hospital

Nine informal complaints were made about paedophile Jimmy Savile at Stoke Mandeville Hospital but none "were either taken seriously or escalated to senior management", a report into his abuse of 60 victims there has found.

A formal complaint about the depraved children's entertainer was also made but dropped due to the victim's ill health, the report released today into his 24-year campaign of abuse there said.

A second report, into how Savile abused hundreds of other victims under the eyes of NHS staff at 41 hospitals around the country, was also released, setting out a string of recommendations to ensure it cannot happen again.

Open Image Modal

Jimmy Savile is reported to have abused 60 people at Stoke Mandeville Hospital

The findings raise questions about the role of the government at the time in "undermining statutory or conventional governance processes" after the Department of Health made him chairman of trustees for a charity appeal in the 1980s, the report by Kate Lampard - who was appointed by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to oversee the investigations - said.

They also indicate "the need for us to examine safeguarding arrangements in NHS hospitals, the raising of complaints and matters of concern and how managers and staff respond to complaints", the independent report added.

Evidence from Savile's victims at Stoke Mandeville suggest his shocking behaviour was an "open secret" as early as 1973 after he started working at the Buckinghamshire hospital as a voluntary porter "with no checks, monitoring or supervision in place".

Savile met then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher to discuss the funding of the spinal injuries unit in February 1980, the Stoke Mandeville report said.

She and Savile, who went on to receive a knighthood in 1990, later exchanged several letters about the unit.

Thirty-seven of his victims, who included hospital patients, visitors and staff, were interviewed for the report and told of behaviour ranging from groping to rape.

Open Image Modal

Savile and Thatcher exchanged letters about the spinal injuries unit of the hospital

They include children as young as eight and adults, including a pregnant mother in her 20s in hospital with her sick son and a 19-year-old paralysed woman in a wheelchair.

A 23-year-old radiographer in the late 1970s at the hospital, known as victim 19, said she often saw Savile walking around the hospital at night, assisting the porters.

The report added: "A nurse that victim 19 spoke to said that Savile would often push his way into their rooms and that he was known to be a dirty old man. No one ever indicated that Savile had actually abused them; he was regarded as a pain, nothing more."

The woman also noted that "Savile's brother (uncertain which one) used to wander around the hospital also dressed in a tracksuit. The common view was that he cut a rather pathetic figure".

Open Image Modal

Savile's older brother Johnny is suspected of carrying out attacks at a London hospital

A separate report released today found it was likely Jimmy Savile's older brother Johnny molested and possibly raped women at Springfield Hospital in south London.

Johnny, who died in 1998, worked at the hospital as a recreation officer in the 1970s and allegations of abuse by him were uncovered by Operation Yewtree officers.

They were made by five women, between 1978 and 1980, with the last two culminating in him being sacked for gross misconduct of a sexual nature in 1980.

Open Image Modal

It is alleged senior staff knew Savile was abusing young patients at the hospital but turned a blind eye

However, the report by South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust found no evidence Jimmy Savile ever visited Springfield or any other of the trust's units.

One of Savile's victims, aged 18 at the time, recalled that the DJ climbed into her room through a window to molest her as she was heavily sedated and recovering from burns to her hands in 1973. He also spoke to her about her private life, suggesting he had read her medical records, the report said.

He groped the paraplegic woman after taking her for dinner to thank her for fundraising towards the hospital's National Spinal Injuries Centre in August 1973, forcing himself on her in the back of his car while his driver sat in the front.

The report noted: "The ward nursing staff had tried to warn her before she went that Savile had a reputation, and when Victim 9 returned to the ward she told the nursing staff what had happened. It appeared to be an open secret that Savile was a 'sex pest'."

The 348-page report, released today following repeated delays as new information came to light, said: "Savile was an opportunistic predator who could also on occasions show a high degree of premeditation when planning attacks on his victims."

Despite his sleazy behaviour upsetting junior staff from the outset, "Savile was feted by senior managers as an important part of hospital life".

Previously released reports into Savile's wrongdoings in NHS premises found the former BBC presenter committed ''truly awful'' abuse against patients all over the country and even boasted about having sex with corpses.

Jimmy Savile Abuse Timeline
(01 of24)
Open Image Modal
Jimmy Savile in 1961 around the time he was working for Radio Luxembourg. He is at London Airport with Pan American stewardess Birgit Johansson with two gold discs; one is for American singer Elvis Presley for having sold one million copies of "It's Now or Never" in the UK, and the other is for Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker (credit:PA)
(02 of24)
Open Image Modal
Cilla Black and Jimmy Savile before a Variety Club Luncheon at the Savoy Hotel. Taken in 1964, the year Savile became the first presenter of Top of the Pops (credit:PA)
(03 of24)
Open Image Modal
Two women have come forward with allegations from the 1960s, one who was 14 and another who was a teenager when she claims Savile sexually abused her in Scarborough (credit:PA)
(04 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile in 1969 with Physically Handicapped and Able-Bodied (PHAB) member Erika Mentz from Germany and other PHAB members at a dance at Devonshire House (credit:PA)
(05 of24)
Open Image Modal
1969 also saw Savile begin volunteering at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital for specialist spinal injuries. He would later be given a room there (credit:PA)
(06 of24)
Open Image Modal
Jimmy Savile presenting a cheque to children on behalf of the NSPCC in 1969 (credit:PA)
(07 of24)
Open Image Modal
The 1970s saw Savile start volunteering at Leeds General Infirmary and... (credit:PA)
(08 of24)
Open Image Modal
... Broadmoor secure high-security psychiatric hospital. Allegations by former patients have been made against Savile although ex-workers have disputed the idea that he could have been left alone with anyone whilst working there (credit:PA)
(09 of24)
Open Image Modal
The 70s also saw the start of Jim'll Fix It. Allegations from this period include Caroline Moore, a 13-year-old patient at Stoke Mandeville hospital in 1971, who says Savile "rammed his tongue" down her throat and another allegation accuses Savile of molesting a brain-damaged teenage patient at Leeds General Infirmary in 1972 (credit:PA)
(10 of24)
Open Image Modal
The 1980s saw the continuation of Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It as Savile became a much loved household name. Two allegations relating to this time include one from a then-15-year-old girl (not pictured) who made a complaint of abuse by Savile in Lancashire. Pictured is 12-year-old Rebecca Heap (credit:PA)
(11 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile at the Stoke Mandeville hospital with injured children from Beirut in 1987 (credit:PA)
(12 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile was knighted in 1990 and continued his charity work throughout the decade (credit:PA)
(13 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile was questioned in 2007 by police about allegations of sexual abuse but the Crown Prosecution service says there is not enough evidence to warrant a prosecution (credit:PA)
(14 of24)
Open Image Modal
A 2008 police report into abuse at the Haut de Garenne children's home in Jersey names Savile, although this is never made public (credit:PA)
(15 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile re-united with his Jim'll Fix It chair in 2009. The previous year Sussex police received a complaint of sexual assault but went on to say the victim was "unwilling to co-operate in any investigation" (credit:PA)
(16 of24)
Open Image Modal
Jimmy Savile is found dead at the age of 84 in October 2011. He is buried in Scarborough (credit:PA)
(17 of24)
Open Image Modal
In December 2011 the BBC drop an investigation by Newsnight into the allegations of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile. Three tribute programmes are aired instead (credit:PA)
(18 of24)
Open Image Modal
ITV airs a documentary, 'Exposure, the Other Side of Jimmy Savile', in which a number of women claim they were abused by Savile as youngsters, including Karin Ward (pictured) (credit:ITV)
(19 of24)
Open Image Modal
Within days of the documentary, many more allegations surface. By the 9 October Peter Spindler of the Metropolitan Police tells the BBC: "It is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender" (credit:PA)
(20 of24)
Open Image Modal
11 October 2012 and George Entwistle, Director General of the BBC, asks journalists why the Newsnight programme was dropped as police from Tayside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and North Yorkshire police say they are investigating allegations going back to 1959 (credit:PA)
(21 of24)
Open Image Modal
12 October and police reveal they have 340 potential lines of inquiry (credit:PA)
(22 of24)
Open Image Modal
15 October sees a man come forward alleging that Savile abused him when he was a nine-year-old boyscout (credit:PA)
(23 of24)
Open Image Modal
Savile's family removed his headstone from his grave and broke it up in the wake of the furore (credit:PA)
Jimmy Savile sexually abuses transgender man(24 of24)
Open Image Modal
A transgender man comes forward alleging that Jimmy Savile 'stuck his hand up his nightdress' while he was a 17-year-old teenage girl at Broadmoor in the 1970's. More here http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/15/jimmy-savile-timeline-abuse-allegations_n_1966426.html?1350304573#slide=1641388 (credit:PA)