Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal

In late 2012 it emerged that Jimmy Savile, a British media personality who had died the previous year, had sexually abused hundreds of people throughout his life, mostly children but some as old as 75, and mostly female. He had been well known in the United Kingdom for his eccentric image and was generally respected for his charitable work, which associated him with the British monarchy and other individuals of personal power.

On 3 October 2012, an ITV documentary presented by investigative reporter Mark Williams-Thomas was broadcast in which several women said that, as teenagers, they had been sexually abused by Savile. By 11 October, allegations had been made against Savile to thirteen British police forces, which led to the setting-up of inquiries into practices within both the BBC and the National Health Service (NHS), both institutions that had worked closely with Savile.^[1] On 19 October, London's Metropolitan Police (Met) launched a formal criminal investigation, Operation Yewtree, into historic allegations of child sexual abuse by Savile and other individuals, some still living, covering four decades. The Met stated that it was pursuing over 400 lines of inquiry, based on the claims of 200 witnesses, via fourteen police forces across the UK. It described the alleged abuse as being "on an unprecedented scale" and the number of potential victims as "staggering".^[2][3] By 19 December, eight people had been questioned as part of the investigation. The Met stated that the total number of alleged victims was 589, of whom 450 alleged abuse by Savile.^[4][5]

The report of the investigations undertaken jointly by the police and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Giving Victims a Voice, was published on 11 January 2013. It reported allegations covering a period of 50 years, including 214 alleged acts by Savile which, though uncorroborated, have been formally recorded as crimes, some involving children as young as eight. The report states "within the recorded crimes there are 126 indecent acts and 34 rape/penetration offences."^[6] Alleged offences took place at thirteen hospitals as well as on BBC premises, according to the report.^[6][7]

In October 2013, it was announced that inquiries had widened to other hospitals.^[8] On 26 June 2014, then-Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt reported on the findings of the investigations led by Kate Lampard. He said that Savile had sexually assaulted victims aged between 5 and 75 in NHS hospitals, and Hunt apologised to the victims.^[9] Further investigations, in hospitals and elsewhere, led to additional allegations of sexual abuse by Savile.

Savile often came into contact with his victims through his creative projects for the BBC and his charitable work for the NHS. A significant part of his career and public life involved working with children and young people, including visiting schools and hospital wards. He spent 20 years from 1964 presenting Top of the Pops, aimed at a teenage audience, and an overlapping 20 years presenting Jim'll Fix It, in which he helped the wishes of viewers, mainly children, come true. During his lifetime, two police investigations considered reports about Savile, the earliest known being in 1958, but none had led to charges; the reports had each concluded that there was insufficient evidence for any charges to be brought related to sexual offences.^[10][11][12] In 2007 he had been interviewed by the police under caution and in 2008 he started legal action over allegations in The Sun. In October 2012 it was announced that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, would investigate why proceedings against Savile in 2009 were dropped. A BBC Newsnight investigation into reports Savile had sexually abused children was scheduled for broadcast on 7 December 2011 but cancelled. From October 2012, that cancellation together with the BBC's other handling of concerns about Savile became the subject of further inquiries and investigative reporting.

The scandal was a major factor leading to the establishment of the wider-ranging Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which was announced by then-Home Secretary Theresa May in July 2014 and was initially administered by Baroness Butler-Sloss (appointed July 2014) and Fiona Woolf (appointed 5 September 2014). In February 2015, the inquiry was reconfigured as a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 framework chaired by Justice Lowell Goddard.