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Staff at British hospital knew of 10 allegations against Jimmy Savile

Staff at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the UK knew of 10 allegations against Jimmy Savile during t...
Newstalk
Newstalk

06.59 26 Feb 2015


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Staff at British hospital knew...

Staff at British hospital knew of 10 allegations against Jimmy Savile

Newstalk
Newstalk

06.59 26 Feb 2015


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Staff at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the UK knew of 10 allegations against Jimmy Savile during the period when he was abusing patients and visitors, new reports have revealed.

Victims of the disgraced entertainer ranged in age from five to 75, and included patients, staff and visitors, found one report.

And it warned there was evidence many aspects of the Savile abuse scandal could be repeated in the future.

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There was also evidence to suggest Savile had unsupervised access to the mortuary at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

One report said: "Two witnesses gave evidence to the investigation that they had heard Savile was having sex with dead bodies in the mortuary."

While the inquiry found no evidence of this, it said it was not possible to investigate the allegations further.

But Savile had admitted spending a lot of time in the mortuary to a hospital electrician, telling him: "Actually, I often come here for a crafty smoke."

Those staff who complained about Savile's behaviour, were "severely reprimanded".

Roy Greenslade, media commentator for The Guardian, spoke to Pat Kenny about the reports:

Dr Androulla Johnstone, who wrote the Stoke Mandeville report, told a press conference Savile was an "opportunistic predator who on occasion could also show a high degree of premeditation" when planning attacks.

She said: "The individuals to whom these incidents were reported failed in their duty to protect.

"Consequentially, no intelligence about Savile's behaviour was gathered over the years and no action was taken.

"Whilst witnesses told us it was an open secret within the hospital that Savile was a lecher and general nuisance, none stated that they knew about his sexual abuse activities."

Lawyer Liz Dux, who represents many of the Stoke Mandeville victims, said it "beggars belief" the report found no evidence of senior staff being aware of the abuse.

"The senior management, the senior staff, knew what was happening. We do know victims were told to be quiet with their complaints, because of the good that he was doing," she added.

But Dr Johnstone rejected claims of a "cover-up" by staff, and said Savile's behaviour went unchallenged due to a "general disbelief".

Hattie Llewelyn-Davies, chairwoman of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust which runs Stoke Mandeville, apologised to Savile's victims on behalf of the NHS.

She said: "Together these accounts paint a bleak story of a deeply flawed and repellent individual who used his role as a fundraiser, his celebrity status and his national contacts to conceal his wicked activities.

"For too long people were taken in by this controlling and manipulative man."

Tom Parmenter, Sky News correspondent, spoke to Newstalk Breakfast this morning about Jimmy Savile's position at the hospital:

Originally posted at 6.50am


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