Hospital reveals more claims of abuse by Savile

NHS bosses said in October that they had been contacted by two people about alleged incidents involving Savile at Leeds General Infirmary in the 1970s.

Now it has emerged that four more alleged incidents involving the DJ have come to light.

All are understood to relate to the infirmary, where Savile worked as a volunteer porter at the height of his fame in the 1970s.

The new figure was confirmed to the Yorkshire Post following a request made to Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust under the Freedom of Information Act.

In its response, the trust says it cannot comment on the nature of the incidents as doing so could prejudice “the prevention or detection of crime”.

The trust also says no complaints appear to have been made about Savile prior to the scandal, which blew up in October following an ITV documentary about the Leeds-born presenter.

It also admits that details of complaints lodged in the past could yet be uncovered, saying: “Much of the contact Jimmy Savile had with our hospitals dates back over a period of four decades. An internal investigation will be conducted, including a review of documents covering that period, and it is therefore possible that as a result of that work, additional information will be generated.”

It was not clear last night if any of the six incidents include an indecent assault alleged to have been carried out by Savile at the infirmary in 1972. York pensioner June Thornton has claimed she saw him molesting a young woman recovering in the hospital’s Brotherton Wing after surgery.

There have also been allegations – disputed by hospital chiefs – that Savile would take teenage girls to an accommodation block at the infirmary in the late 1980s.

The National Association for People Abused in Childhood has also received claims about sexual misconduct by infirmary staff acting “in collusion” with the star.

Savile is also said to have abused patients at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital.

Meanwhile chat show host Michael Parkinson has accused the BBC of “mistakes” over the Savile abuse case, but says the real question was why the DJ was given access to schools and hospitals. The Barnsley-born star said he looked at the BBC “with despair” after the revelations.

Speaking to Nick Ferrari on Classic FM in a show to be broadcast tomorrow at 9pm, he said: “I knew Savile. I didn’t much like him. That’s not hindsight. I couldn’t understand why he became so popular.

“But I’ll make one observation about the BBC. The BBC got a kicking on that. But at least he had a reason for being at the BBC. He was employed by the BBC and he had to work there. What on earth was he doing, what was his reason to be at Broadmoor? What was his reason to be at Stoke Mandeville? What was his reason to be at the hospital in Leeds and, particularly, what reason did he have to go to a school?”

The veteran presenter said he first met Savile in Manchester in the 1960s when they both worked at Granada.

He said: “But he was not a man who sought the company of people, with hindsight now, who couldn’t help him. In those days, we didn’t know he was being selective, we just thought he got his own gig and off he went to do it. Nobody ever got really close to him at all.”