26/06/2014

Savile NHS Abuse Victims Aged 5 To 75

Ex-BBC DJ Jimmy Savile sexually assaulted victims aged five to 75, assisted in bed baths and may have sexually abused dead bodies at an NHS hospital over decades of unrestricted access, investigators have said.

The report, which cover 28 hospitals, including Broadmoor psychiatric hospital and Leeds General Infirmary (LGI), concluded that the late TV presenter's crimes stretched over five decades and his victims included men, women, boys and girls.

Sixty people came forward to report abuse at LGI, where he would visit unannounced and where he was allowed to assist intimate care.

"Incredibly harrowing and disturbing" allegations were provided to the inquiry from a witness who said that Savile had boasted about sexually abusing bodies in the hospital's mortuary, and by two other witnesses who said he wore huge rings made from the glass eyes of deceased patients at the hospital.

LGI lead investigator Dr Sue Proctor told a news conference: "We have no way of verifying the allegations … but his interest in the dead was pretty unwholesome" and added that the "restrictions on his access to the mortuary were not robust."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt apologised to victims, and said Savile's actions "will shake our country to the core".

(CVS)


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