Updated summary:
Jimmy Savile
- ITV airs investigation revealing victims of abuse by Jimmy Savile, former DJ and television presenter at the BBC plus notable charity worker
- Police start investigation and hear from hundreds of victims over 40 years
- BBC revealed to have pulled an earlier investigation which made similar claims
- Videos of his BBC shows have Gary Glittler as a guest boasting of the girls they have
- A video shows Savile trying to molest one on air, she went to floor managers about it but they laughed it off
- Savile revealed to have abused patients through his charity work at Stoke Mandeville hospital, the youngest being 8
- Savile had been given keys to Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital with unrestricted access
- Savile boasted in his autobiography that he slept with an underage girl but nothing came of it because he would 'take down half the station with him'
- Savile held a 'Friday Club' with members of the police both serving and retired every week for 20 years
- Savile was basically 'untouchable'
- Freddie Starr arrested over similar allegations, others being investigated
- Several close friends of Savile said to have fled the country
- ITV preparing second programme detailing his early life
North Wales child abuse scandal (1974-1990)
The fact Savile was untouchable, and this all went on in plain sight for decades, reopened questions about the abuse in care homes which Savile visited regularly in North Wales.
- Between 1974 and 1990, up to 650 children from 40 children's homes such as Bryn Estyn were sexually, physically and emotionally abused
- Only 9 people were charged, 7 convicted, and no one outside the care homes
- Persistent allegations were that the homes were visited by prominent people in the public eye and politicians at unexplained times, and also to collect boys and abuse them in local hotels and residences in London
- Jillings in his inquiry regretted he did not have the mandate to investigate these allegations further
- Jillings was also concerned there was a widespread paedophile ring in North Wales and the North West, of which there had been warnings 4 years earlier, and went to the Chief Constable about it
- The Jillings report was instead however ordered not to be published as not being in the public interest, having been warned by insurers of the cost of compensation to all the victims
- Parts of the unpublished Jillings report were leaked by a whistleblower which led to the Waterhouse inquiry
- The Waterhouse inquiry forbid any naming or investigation of those not already convicted
- Up to 60 names were removed from one victim's statement alone
- 16 victims of the abuse are now dead, 3 from suicide
Gateshead child abuse (1966-1973) / Peter Howarth
- Peter Howarth taught at Gateshead's Axwell Park, a Home Office run school for troubled youngers where he abused children
- No charges or action was taken and he was then appointed deputy head at Bryn Estyn children's home where he continued to abuse the children in its care
- A victim of the abuse there says children were regularly abused for the 'entertainment' of Savile at the home in the presence of Peter Howarth
- Children were taken to Savile in Howarth's flat
- When the social worker blew the whistle on the abuse in North Wales after police and council refused to take any action, Howarth was one of only 7 who were convicted.
- No charges were made against Savile or anyone else outside the care homes
- Nothing about Savile's involvement, or anyone else, came out at all
Islington child abuse scandal (1970-80's)
This also happened in Islington where each of the 24 care homes was found to be abusing children.
- The abuse spanned the 1970's and 80's, it is still unclear the number of victims and no one was charged
- It wasn't revealed until 1992 when a social worker blew the whistle after the police and council refused to take any action
- Although there were then as many as 13 inquiries, proving the abuse took place, none of them looked at the perpetrators
- The original whistleblower said when the story broke 'everyone just left the council'
- Some are still running councils elsewhere
- Perpetrators escaped conviction and went on to abuse elsewhere, some had links to those at other care homes
- One was arrested in Thailand in 2006 for abusing as many as 300 children
The head of Islington council at the time, Margaret Hodge, was later appointed Minister For Children in Tony Blair's government.
Rochdale child abuse scandal (2007-2012)
- 9 Asian men were jailed for grooming young white girls for sex over 5 years
- Children and their parents went repeatedly to police and social services for help but were ignored
- Victims were said to be 'making their own choices', some were as young as 12
- A report in Rotherham found agencies there were aware of similar abuse but did nothing, and no one was prosecuted
Lord McAlpine
Lord McAlpine was named by one of the victims in North Wales, leading to a statement denying it from Lord McAlpine and the resignation of the BBC's Director General. This followed a warning from Cameron on ITV about a witch hunt. However there is more to the story.
- Boys were regularly taken to do work at 2 homes of the McAlpine family according to a local councillor
- Jimmie McAlpine was identified by one of the victims in North Wales, he died before the Waterhouse inquiry
- Photographic evidence handed into police by one of the victims was ordered to be destroyed
- Police said to have had extensive reasons to link Jimmie McAlpine to the abuse in the care homes, no action was taken
- All names were removed from the Waterhouse report
- The inquiry itself was halted on one occasion when a particular name came up
- Steve Messham, who named Lord McAlpine and confirmed as a genuine victim by the social worker who blew the whistle about North Wales, attacked in widely criticised article by the Sunday Mail which referred to him as a 'weirdo'
- Integrity and motives of Mail journalist are questioned
- Media focus shifts completely to the 'crisis' at the BBC
Sir Peter Morrison
Sir Peter Morrison, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher, was identified on Channel 4 news by eye witness as one of the abusers and names that was not revealed at the time nor charged.
- Edwina Currie's diaries published in 2002 named him as a 'noted pedarest' with a 'liking for young boys' and expressed concern at him being appointed PPS to Thatcher for fear of the press revealing it
- Currie was also responsible for appointing Savile to his role at Broadmoor
- Margaret Thatcher was said to either not be aware or 'taking a gamble'
- Norman Tebbit, Chairman of the Conservative party, was aware of it
- Teresa Gorman MP said his agent had been offered money to keep quiet about his activities
Sir Cyril Smith
- Sir Cyril Smith, MP for Rochdale, named in House Of Commons as a repeated abuser of young boys and urged victims to come forward
- He was investigated by Lancashire police in the 1960's but no action was taken
- Persistent allegations had been made over the years but still no action was taken
- MP said there had been a long-standing culture in Rochdale of 'hiding the truth'
The Church Of England
- Peter Ball, former Church Of England Bishop, arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting boys as young as 12
- The arrest came as part of the investigation into Savile
- Ball, like Savile, was a close friend of Prince Charles
- A second unnamed man, a retired Anglican priest, has also been arrested
Current inquiries
There are currently at least 9 separate inquiries investigating the BBC, police, social services, and the previous inquiries. Demands are being made by the opposition and those involved with exposing the previous cases of abuse for a single overarching public inquiry into all the allegations and confirmed cases of child abuse.
No attempt at all has been made at any point to try and get a complete picture of the child abuse that was happening throughout the country, because of the limited mandates of each inquiry, nor identify and investigate all the perpetrators of it and bring them to justice. The unpublished Jillings report said victims were sacrificed to protect those in professional positions at every stage.
Peers in the House Of Lords have demanded the inquiry into the Waterhouse inquiry be dropped or amended. The opposition have repeated their demand for a wider public inquiry but the Government has said it will not be changing its position.
Links
Original whistleblower in North Wales warns of the shift of focus and attempts to discredit victims of child abuse:
http://news.sky.com/story/1010077/concerns-over-treatment-of-child-abuse-victims
Eye witness describes what went on at the care homes in North Wales:
http://www.channel4.com/news/exclusive-eyewitness-saw-thatcher-aide-take-boys-to-abuse
McAlpine aftermath: Peers demand child abuse investigation is dropped:
http://m.politics.co.uk/news/2012/11/14/peers-want-probe-into-child-abuse-inquiry-dropped
The North Wales child abuse scandal: A damaged generation waits for justice 30 years on:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...on-waits-for-justice-30-years-on-8303901.html
(links to all articles used for this summary are posted in the thread, I will add more to this section later)