Savile report: missed opportunities

Over 50 of Jimmy Savile's sex abuse victims will seek compensation from the BBC, the NHS, the disgraced TV presenter's estate and other organisations, their lawyer has said. The scale of the late DJ's campaign of abuse was revealed in a report yesterday.

Savile now has 214 criminal offences, spanning the breadth of the UK, recorded against his name - including 34 rapes. The Department of Health (DoH) and BBC are among a number of organisations embroiled in the scandal and, alongside the late star's estate, could now face substantial payouts.

The DoH and BBC have launched internal investigations into how the entertainer slipped under the radar and was allowed to abuse on such an unprecedented scale.

The extraordinary extent of Jimmy Savile's double life as a predatory paedophile has been laid out in black and white today. His youngest victim was an 8 year old boy, he assaulted a teenager in a Yorkshire hospice and his abusing lasted 54 years.

The first report into his decades of abuse was made public with the senior Scotland Yard detective admitting that Savile conned millions and had in fact "groomed the nation".

The BBC today said it was "appalled" that some of the offences by Jimmy Savile "were committed on its premises", adding that it "would like to restate our sincere apology to the victims of these crimes".

An allegation also emerged today that Jimmy Savile sexually touched a girl aged between 13 and 16 at the final regular recording of 'Top Of The Pops' at Television Centre in 2006.

Speaking to our UK Editor Lucy Manning, Met Commander Peter Spindler said he hoped today's reports would help give victims a voice and sense of justice.