Savile report says entertainer targeted vulnerable youth in 50 years of 'unprecedented' abuse

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FILE - In this Dec. 17, 1986 file photo, disc jockey Jimmy Savile is pictured at Madame Tussauds museum in London, England. British police say the late entertainer Jimmy Savile committed more than 200 sex crimes over more than half a century, with most victims children and teens assaulted the length and breadth of Britain, from TV studios to hospitals and even a hospice. Police said in a report released Friday Jan. 11, 2013 that the scale of Savile's sex abuse was "unprecedented in the UK." (AP Photo/John Redman, File)

LONDON - Patients in hospital beds; star-struck teenagers in a TV show audience; pupils at a school for troubled girls; a 10-year-old autograph hunter.

All fell victim to the late British entertainer Jimmy Savile, police said, describing him Friday as a sexual predator who used his fame to find victims and deliberately targeted individuals who would not speak out against him.

A three-month police investigation yielded a staggering litany of sexual crimes: 214 offences, including 34 rapes, over more than half a century, the majority of the victims under 18. Police say they expect the number of offences to rise as more allegations are investigated.

A police report published Friday describes a "prolific, predatory sex offender" whose celebrity unlocked the doors of institutions across Britain, from hospitals where he served as a charity fundraiser to schools whose pupils eagerly watched his television programs — and even to the prime minister's country house, where he dined with Margaret Thatcher.

"It could be said that he groomed a nation," said Cmdr. Peter Spindler, head of the Metropolitan Police specialist crimes unit. "He was hiding in plain sight, but none of us were able to do anything about it."

The catalogue of abuse provides the fullest accounting yet of the allegations against Savile, a cigar-chomping, platinum-haired TV and radio personality who died in October 2011 at age 84. Savile's elaborate funeral reflected his status as a popular entertainer and tireless charity worker, but a documentary broadcast late last year pulled the mask away, claiming that he was a serial sex offender who traded on his celebrity to prey on vulnerable children.

The subsequent police investigation more than bore out those allegations. Detectives initially believed there were between 20 and 25 victims. So far, 450 have come forward with claims against Savile — a scale of abuse police called "unprecedented in the U.K."

Child welfare experts say Savile's fame helped him achieve that grim distinction.

"Savile cunningly built his entire life around gaining access to vulnerable children," said Peter Watt of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Savile set himself up as a sinister Pied Piper; children came to him. He hosted the long-running BBC music show "Top of the Pops," which saw everyone from the Rolling Stones to the Sex Pistols perform before an audience of excited young people. Police say victims were assaulted in dressing rooms or groped during filming breaks. One victim was a teenager who said she was assaulted at the last-ever recording of the show in 2006, when Savile was nearly 80.

Savile also hosted "Jim'll Fix It," a BBC TV show on which he granted the wishes of young viewers who wrote in with cherished plans. Police said Savile would sometimes visit the letter-writers' schools, and some of the offences took place there.

"He could do anything he wanted," said Detective Supt. David Gray, who led the police investigation. "He could turn up at a school and say 'Is anyone interested in meeting me?'"

He often visited a school for troubled girls, where pupils were allegedly offered cigarettes and trips in Savile's car in return for sex. The flamboyant star often drove a convertible Rolls-Royce.

"He only picked on the most vulnerable," Gray said. "He was clever enough to know the ones less likely to speak out against him."

Savile also was a fundraiser for hospitals, including Leeds General Infirmary in his northern England home town and the Stoke Mandeville spinal injuries centre in southern England. Police said he committed 50 assaults at 14 medical establishments, including a cancer hospice and several psychiatric hospitals. Among his victims were ill youngsters confined to bed.

Savile's charitable work raised his profile and credibility. Recently released records show he lobbied Thatcher for government donations and tax breaks for charities.

"I find it quite scary that people who had the power to stop him didn't use that power ... and he went on to do the most horrific things to people in the most awful circumstances," said Caroline Moore, who says Savile abused her as she recovered from a spinal operation at Stoke Mandeville in 1971.

Some Savile victims did speak out. Several women went to police to report Saville in 2003, 2007 and 2008, and senior prosecutor Alison Levitt said Friday that the entertainer could have been brought to justice while he was alive, if officials had pursued the allegations more vigorously.

The BBC — which has been strongly criticized for dropping an investigation into Savile's crimes shortly after this death — and several health bodies are holding their own inquiries into how Savile was able to get away with decades of abuse.

Peter Saunders of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood said authorities must be more prepared to listen to children who say they have been abused.

"I want us to forget Jimmy Savile. He is not worthy of memory," Saunders said. "But I want us to remember his many victims."

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Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless