Savile lessons 'still not learned'

The depraved entertainer was given "endorsement from the very highest level of society" after then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher appointed him in an official fundraising role at Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he raped or assaulted at least 63 patients, staff and visitors, it emerged today.

It was also revealed that three new investigations have been launched at NHS trusts following fresh allegations about the former BBC star now known as one of the most prolific sex offenders in British history.

Savile was given open access to the Buckinghamshire hospital while volunteering as a porter from 1969, and despite claims about his horrific actions behaviour being widespread by the early 1970s senior staff were never told of his "wicked" crimes, many of them against desperately ill children.

Barrister Kate Lampard, whose review of Savile's offending across NHS institutions made a series of recommendations, said many volunteer programmes at hospitals still "pose a potential risk to patients" due to inadequate checks, while stricter controls are needed so they are not under threat from celebrity guests.

Investigations into 41 hospitals, a children's home, ambulance service and a hospice found the access Savile was given offered him the "opportunity to commit sexual abuses on a grand scale for nearly 50 years", Ms Lampard said.

His status was "enhanced by the endorsement and encouragement he received from politicians, senior civil servants and NHS managers", she told a London press conference.

The report into Stoke Mandeville found that nine informal complaints were made about the entertainer but none was taken seriously or referred to senior management.

A formal complaint about the depraved children's entertainer was also made but dropped due to the victim's ill health.

That victim today accused the report of being a "whitewash" and said parts of her evidence had been left out.

"How they can say that those in authority did not know is inconceivable," the woman, known only as Abigail, said. "The report is nothing but a whitewash."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs the 16 new reports were "extremely distressing", with a total of 177 men and women coming forward with allegations of abuse covering a period from 1954 to shortly before Savile's death in 2011.

The youngest was aged five, with allegations including rape, assault, indecent assault and inappropriate comments or advances.

"Never again must the power of money or celebrity blind us to repeated clear signals that some extremely vulnerable people were being abused," he told the Commons.

"People were either too dazzled or too intimidated by the nation's favourite celebrity to confront the evil predator we now know he was."

He said £40 million will be made available from Savile's estate and charities for compensation claims from his victims.

Liz Dux, lawyer at Slater and Gordon which is representing 44 of those preyed on by Savile at Stoke Mandeville, said it "beggars belief" that the report found no evidence of senior staff being aware of the abuse.

"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," Dr Androulla Johnstone, the lead author on the Stoke Mandeville report said.

"Even though we are convinced that the senior top tier didn't know, we are quite harsh in our criticism that Savile should not have been allowed at Stoke Mandeville in the first place. He should never have been given the run of the hospital."

Referring to the fundraising role he was given for the hospital's spinal injuries unit in the 1980s, she confirmed she was critical of senior politicians including then-health minister Dr Gerard Vaughan and Department of Health officials.

A dependence on Savile raising money meant he was "able to access a new cohort of victims for his sexual abuse in the guise of young charity fundraisers to the hospital", Dr Johnstone added.

"His status as a celebrity and a fundraiser, whose presence had been encouraged by senior managers, meant that staff who observed him behaving inappropriately or who received reports of him committing sexual abuses, were reluctant to challenge Savile directly or to escalate matters," her report said.

Dr Johnstone admitted that "systems were very weak" at the hospital, where three doctors also abused patients.

Just last month Michael Salmon was found guilty of raping and indecently assaulting girls at Stoke Mandeville during the 1970s and 1980s although there was no suggestion he was linked to Savile.

Savile's victims there included 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 third of them were patients while others were staff and visitors and 10 of them were under the age of 12.

A total of 44 reports into Savile's behaviour at NHS premises have now been released, with 28 published in June.

Other reports released today found he also behaved inappropriately at high-security Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire and a Bensham Hospital in Gateshead.

Another found it was likely that his older brother, Johnny, molested and possibly raped women at Springfield Hospital in south London.

The three new investigations are under way at Humber NHS Trust, Mersey Care NHS Trust and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.