Payout for Savile victims could take £3.3m estate

A HIGH Court judge has described a compensation scheme set up to cater for victims of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile as a “sensible and pragmatic” attempt at solving a “complex situation”.
About 140 people have claims against the former DJ. Picture: PAAbout 140 people have claims against the former DJ. Picture: PA
About 140 people have claims against the former DJ. Picture: PA

Mr Justice Sales said the scheme – agreed between the executor of Savile’s estate and lawyers representing alleged victims – would allow for “sufficient objective scrutiny” of the merits of compensation claims.

The judge has analysed the scheme in a written ruling on a dispute between the estate executor – the NatWest bank – and a charitable trust which is the major beneficiary of the estate.

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He had sanctioned the scheme, and dismissed an 
attempt to replace NatWest as estate executor, following a High Court hearing in London in February.

And he outlined his reasoning behind those decisions in a written ruling handed down in London yesterday.

Lawyers had initially put the value of Savile’s estate at around £4 million. But Mr Justice Sales said a “range of expenses” had been incurred and the estate’s current value was about £3.3m.

He said about 140 people had “intimated to the bank” that they had personal injury claims against former DJ and presenter Savile and his estate in relation to sexual abuse.

He said there had also been indications of claims against other organisations Savile had been associated with – the BBC, a number of NHS hospital trusts and charities Barnardo’s and Mind.

“The claims which the claimants have brought forward have not been the subject of determination in court proceedings and in that sense remain untested allegations,” said Mr Justice Sales.

“But there is no serious dispute that some, perhaps many, of the claims may be well-founded and meritorious.

“If such claims are substantiated, there is a serious possibility, to put it no higher, that they would exhaust the money remaining in the estate.”

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The judge said claims would not have to be made under the compensation scheme – and he said claimants had a right to launch court proceedings. But he said it was likely that claiming under the scheme would be attractive to “many or all”.

“Use of the scheme will provide a good opportunity for their claims to be quickly and inexpensively scrutinised by a barrister, so that they have a reasonable chance of reaching a settlement at an agreed level which can be regarded as fair,” said Mr Justice Sales.

“Agreement about that will in turn help the bank to get to a position in which the full amount of valid claims is known, so that it can decide whether and in what amounts they can be paid out of the estate.”