Nurses used to 'dread' Savile hospital visits

Nurses at a Buckinghamshire Hospital where Jimmy Saville is reported to have abused children said they used to dread his visits.

Allegations have been made about the former TV star's appearances at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he worked as a volunteer fundraiser.

Nurses at the hospital would tell children to stay in bed and pretend to be asleep when he came round.

Rebecca Owen, a former patient at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, told BBC News she overheard nurses talking in a way that suggested he also targeted them, the Daily Telegraph said.

Ms Owen told the paper: "It was an air of resignation that you had to put up with. There was some sort of ironic chatter between the nurses about who would be the lucky one to go off to his room.

"And then, as one of the nurses was leaving or passing by my bed, she leant over and said, 'the best you can do is stay in bed until he's gone and pretend to be asleep'."

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said it was shocked to hear the allegations and never received any complaints about Savile.

A statement from the trust said: "We are unaware of any record or reports of inappropriate behaviour of this nature during Jimmy's work with the trust.

"We can confirm that the police have contacted us this week as part of their assessment exercise and we are co-operating with them fully."

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