Jimmy Savile abuse allegations – a timeline
Jimmy Savile was a very well-known DJ and TV personality. For a time, his jogging figure pictured around the country was synonymous with charity and great kindness to the needy. Since his death, however, a flood of allegations of abuse has happened and a subsequent investigation found that:
"Jimmy Savile was one of the UK's most prolific known sexual predators. Indeed the formal recording of allegations of crime on this scale is, to the best of our knowledge, unprecedented in the UK.
"The details provided by the victims of his abuse paint the picture of a mainly opportunistic individual who used his celebrity status as a powerful tool to coerce or control them, preying on the vulnerable or star-struck for his sexual gratification." [Giving Victims a Voice, 2013]
Today, 27th March 2014, a government statement has listed 21 children’s homes and other care institutions where allegations of abuse have been made against Savile. Jump to this.
A timeline
1955 – The earliest recorded offence by Savile in the Met/NSPCC report (see January 2013 below).
1975 – The start of Savile’s TV show ‘Jim’ll Fix it’ (it ran until 1994)
2007 – Police in Surrey question Savile about allegations of abuse in the 1970s. Prosecution did not take place.
2008 – A complaint was made to Sussex Police about Savile. The matter could be taken no further.
2009 – Proceedings were begun against Jimmy Savile (a Crown Prosecution Service report has since found that he could have been prosecuted at this time).
2009 – The last recorded offence by Savile in the Met/NSPCC report (see January 2013 below).
October 2011 - Savile died aged 84
December 2011 – A BBC Newsnight programme about allegations against Savile was due to be transmitted but a decision was made not to go ahead.
October 2012 – An ITV programme ‘The Other Side of Jimmy Savile’ was broadcast which included allegations of abuse by some women. There was a follow-up programme in November.
October 2012 – The Metropolitan Police started a criminal investigation into allegations against Savile called Operation Yewtree. 450 complaints were received relating to Savile.
October 2012 – The BBC announced two inquiries – one into the decision not to show the Newsnight programme; the second a broader investigation into whether Savile was ‘enabled’ by the culture of the BBC at the time. There is more about this second investigation ‘the Dame Janet Smith Review’ here [external website]. The report is currently expected to be delivered in 2014.
January 2013 – Together with the NSPCC, the Met published a report ‘Giving Victims a Voice’ about the inquiry into the allegations. The report talked of 214 recorded crimes by Savile in 28 police force areas over a number of decades, particularly the 1960s and 1970s. The full report can be found here [external PDF]
The report lists the locations of the recorded offences as:
Ashworth Hospital High Secure Unit BBC Television Centre Broadmoor Hospital Dewsbury Hospital Duncroft Approved School, Staines Exeter Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital High Royds Psychiatric Hospital Leeds General Infirmary Portsmouth Royal Hospital Saxondale Mental Health Hospital, Nott St Catherine’s Hospital, Birkenhead St James’ Teaching Hospital, Leeds Stoke Mandeville Hospital Wheatfields Hospice, Leeds Wycombe General Hospital
The Met are continuing to invetsigate those allegations which involve another person (aside from Savile).
March 2014 – A statement made by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has instructed local authorities to investigate allegations of abuse in 21 care institutions and schools in Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottinghamshire, Kent, Surrey and Devon in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
This move is based on information "uncovered as part of the document review process undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service on behalf of the Department of Health".
The statement, made on the 27th March, is in full is here [external website]
The statement lists the following institutions:[My notes are in italics]
- Aspley Wood School, Nottingham
- Barnardo's children's home - name unknown - Redbridge, north-east London [Redbridge is the HQ site of Barnardo's and so may not be the site of the home in question]
- Bassetlaw School, Nottinghamshire
- Beach Holme Children's Home, Surrey [This could actually be 'Beechholme' - see our page on it here]
- Beechcroft Children's Home, Leeds [Not to be confused with Beechcroft Children's Home in Birmingham].
- Broome House Children's Home, Manchester [There is a note on our Manchester page here]
- Broomfield Children's Home, Surrey
- Care home - name unknown - Islington, north London
- Children's home - name unknown - Bournemouth
- Children's home - name unknown - Manchester
- Colletton Lodge, Devon
- Henshaw School for the Blind, Leeds
- Hollies Care Home, Southwark, south-east London [This is perhaps the Hollies that was in Sidcup. Our page on the Sidcup Hollies is here]
- National Children's Home, Penhurst, Oxfordshire
- Northways Residential School, Leeds
- Notre Dame Grammar School, Leeds
- Parklands Children's Home, Gloucestershire
- Ride Children's Home, Hounslow, west London
- Sarah Laski Home, Manchester
- Sevenoaks School, Kent
- St Leonard's Children's Home, Tower Hamlets, east London [This is presumably the Shoreditch home of the same name: our page on it is here]
**I have added my notes as there is some confusion about which homes are being referred to. Please be aware that these are just my notes and may be wrong!**
We will wait and see what each relevant local authority now handles these allegations once the Department of Ecucations passes them the details.
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To look for information about children's homes on this website, please use our search facility.
For more information on historic abuse please see our page here.
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I will endeavour to keep this page up-to-date with any further information I receive about the investigations into the children’s homes. 27th March 2014
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