Jimmy Savile scandal: Five Scottish cases in the dossier of shame

THE campaign of abuse waged by Jimmy Savile extended to Scotland, where he is alleged to have committed five offences.

The report detailing the scale and breadth of offending by the late BBC personality found two allegations made against him relate to the Strathclyde Police area, one to Lothian and Borders, one to Grampian and one to Fife.

But of the 13 NHS hospitals and one hospice where Savile was accused of committing his crimes, none was in Scotland.

The report mentions the presenter’s cottage in Glen Coe in the Highlands as being a property linked to Savile but does not say whether any offences took place there.

The Giving Victims a Voice report does not provide details of the allegations against Savile in Scotland or the time in which they are said to have been committed.

However, it notes that of the 233 referrals to police forces by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children last autumn, about eight were made from Scotland.

One Scottish victim who decided to publicly air her allegations against Savile said she was “absolutely shocked” at the extent of the abuse, and stressed many “unanswered questions” remained.

Caroline Moore, now 54, from Clarkston, near Glasgow, was recovering in the children’s ward at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire in 1971 after an operation on her spine, when Savile stuck his tongue down her throat in a corridor. She was just 13 at the time and, though shaken by the assault, was too scared to tell the authorities. After 40 years of silence, she spoke out when other allegations of sexual abuse emerged following a television documentary.

The mother of two said yesterday: “I’m absolutely shocked that it has been going on for this long and that there are so many victims. It’s scary that so many people knew and yet said nothing.

“There are still so many unanswered questions. I can’t believe that he was allowed into the places that he was. The authorities need to get their act together and make sure nothing like this can happen in the future. A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves.”

She added: “I find the whole thing terrifying. You don’t think about people high up in society such as presenters and celebrities carrying out such attacks. But the fact Jimmy Savile was respected meant he was actually more dangerous.”

Matt Forde, head of NSPCC Scotland services, expressed hope that the appalling details to emerge in the report represented a “watershed moment” for child protection.

He said: “It is simply horrific that Savile was able to sexually abuse children across the length and breadth of the UK over six decades.

“Those children will never get justice, now that he is dead, so what we must do is show them we want to make lasting change here in Scotland to protect our next generation of children from harm.

“Sexual abuse has not died with Savile, nor is it primarily about celebrities. The number of children in Scotland on the child protection register because of sexual abuse has increased every year since 2008 and we know from NSPCC research that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

“The majority of sexual abuse happens in the home and too often, as the Savile case shows, it is too difficult for children to speak out about what is happening to them.”

The head of Scotland’s leading children’s charity said that, even though it had expected a welter of victims to come forward in light of Savile’s dark secrets being exposed, it was “shocked” by the scale of his abuse.

Anne Houston, chief executive of Children 1st, went on: “As important as it is that people allegedly abused by Jimmy Savile and other celebrities come forward, we should not forget that children are more likely to be abused sexually by someone they know – a family member or friend.

“Right now, there are children in communities and homes in Scotland suffering sexual abuse, too afraid to speak out, scared that no-one will listen or take them seriously.”