'No Evidence' Savile Was Shielded By Police

A report into the contact between West Yorkshire Police officers and Jimmy Savile has concluded there was "no evidence he was protected from arrest".

The report, released on Friday, revealed Savile has been accused of 76 crimes in the West Yorkshire area involving 68 victims.

The youngest victim was just five years old and most of the offences were committed in the 1960s or 1970s including rape, sexual activity with a child under 13 and indecent exposure.

It said: "The review team are satisfied that the work undertaken by Savile in support of local and force campaigns and events was entirely appropriate at the time.

"The review team have concerns regarding the absence of a process to secure Savile's services for some of these events and also the over-reliance on personal friendships that developed between Savile and some officers over a number of years to secure that support.

"Of greater concern is that even after the force received the request from Surrey Police in 2007 to check what records WYP held that related to Savile in relation to their investigation at Duncroft School, WYP continued to use him as part of local crime prevention campaigns.

"There is no evidence that he was protected from arrest or prosecution for any offences as a result of his relationship with WYP, or individual friendships with officers."

The review also examined reports that up to eight officers attended "Friday Morning Clubs" at Savile's flat in Leeds.

As part of the 2007 Surrey Police investigation, initial contact from the force was made through WYP's anti-corruption unit.

Two years later it wrote to Savile asking him to get in touch. The report revealed an inspector from WYP contacted Surrey Police on behalf of Savile because the former DJ had lost the investigating officer's details.

During that conversation, the officer said he was a personal friend of Savile's and that "Jimmy gets so many of these type of complaints".

The report added that Surrey officers said Savile had told them "there was a West Yorkshire Inspector who normally deals with this sort of thing".

Despite numerous interviews, system searches and inquiries with other agencies, the review team found no evidence of any previous allegations being made to WYP against Savile, or of any investigations being conducted.

The report said: "Although rumours did exist of previous investigations taking place into allegations made against Savile, when these were explored they were found to be without any foundation."

A joint Metropolitan Police and NSPCC report published in January found the former TV presenter, who died in 2011 at the age of 84, had committed sexual offences against children on an unprecedented scale.

Some 200 criminal offences have been formally recorded across 28 police forces between 1955 and 2010.

Savile abused his celebrity status and charity work to sexually assault children at 14 hospitals, including Stoke Mandeville and Leeds General Infirmary.

Assistant Chief Constable Ingrid Lee wrote in the introduction to the report: "As Savile's home police force, WYP would have been the obvious place to collect all such information, but investigation has shown that much of the available information during Savile's lifetime was never shared with WYP and, when it was, WYP did not connect the events to recognise a potential pattern of offending.

"We will never know the totality of Savile's offending but we must never allow this to happen again."

Alan Collins, who represents 40 of the disgraced broadcaster's victims, said the report "doesn't add up".

He added: "He was engrained with them, dovetailed with them. The report begs a lot more questions.

"It provides some answers but the report reveals memories that are not as sharp as perhaps they ought to be, 'can't remember', documents that can't seem to be located."