Jimmy Savile's hospital abuse victims ranged from five-year-olds to pensioners #TheElitePartyInJuly #Entertain9jar via @myentertain9jar

JIMMY Savile targeted everyone from five-year-olds to pensioners in a sickening campaign of abuse at a Leeds hospital, it has emerged.

 

he Leeds team said 19 of those who came forward were under 16-years-old [PA]

Investigators at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) found despite staff being told about some of the incidents, which included men, women, boys and girls, no allegations reached senior managers.

The inquiry into his activities at LGI, where he began his association in 1960, included the testimonies of 60 people who gave accounts of their experiences with Savile to investigators - 33 of these were patients.

Three of these incidents were rapes, the investigators said.

The Leeds team said 19 of those who came forward were under 16-years-old and the age range was five to 75. They said the majority were teenagers but 19 victims were hospital staff - all women.

The inquiry panel said that he started working on the hospital radio service and he then became a regular visitor to the hospital, as a celebrity, a fundraiser and, from 1968, a volunteer porter.

It said Savile enjoyed unrestricted access to the hospital as he raised £3.5 million through his charity activities. This gave him the opportunities he needed to indulge in abusive and inappropriate contact with patients and staff.

He had access to keys to various departments, had a series of offices in the hospital and even had access to the mortuary, the panel said.

The independent investigation interviewed more than 200 people and reviewed more than 1,300 documents covering the 50 years Savile was associated with LGI, which is now run by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

It found that the first case of abuse reported to the team happened in 1962 when Savile was 36. The most recent was in 2009 when he was 82.

The investigation panel found that incidents ranged from lewd remarks and inappropriate touching to sexual assault and, in three cases, rape.

Forty three of the encounters took place in public areas such as wards, corridors and offices.

The investigators found that nine victims told a member of staff about what happened either directly or through their parents at the time of the abuse. But they said none of these allegations were subsequently communicated to people in more senior positions.

Reporting their findings, the panel said: "It is clear from witness interviews that had senior managers at the hospital been made aware of Savile's abusive behaviour, they would have acted to stop it happening."

The chairwoman of the independent investigation, Dr Sue Proctor, said: "Before saying anything about our findings, I want to commend the courage of those former patients, staff and visitors to Leeds General Infirmary who experienced abusive or inappropriate encounters with Savile.

"Because they came forward voluntarily and told us what happened to them, the NHS in Leeds and across the country now has an opportunity and an obligation to learn from their accounts and make sure that what happened in Leeds at the hands of Savile can never happen again.

"The NHS is in their debt and I am truly grateful to each of them."

Dr Proctor said: "For some, although the abuse took place decades ago, their experience endures as a painful and upsetting memory that still has an effect on them today."