Operation Yewtree was a British police investigation into sexual abuse allegations, predominantly the abuse of children, against the English media personality Jimmy Savile and others. The investigation, led by the Metropolitan Police (Met), started in October 2012. After a period of assessment, it became a full criminal investigation, involving inquiries into living people, notably other celebrities,[1] as well as Savile, who had died the previous year.
The report of the investigations into the activities of Savile himself was published, as Giving Victims a Voice, in January 2013. Operation Yewtree continued as an investigation into others, some, but not all, linked with Savile. By October 2015, 19 people had been arrested by Operation Yewtree;[2] seven of these arrests led to convictions. The "Yewtree effect" has been credited for an increase in the number of reported sex crimes,[3] while the operation also sparked a debate on police procedure and rights of those accused of sex crimes.
An ITV documentary, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, researched and presented by former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, was broadcast on 3 October 2012, almost a year after Savile's death. The programme contained several allegations by women who said that, as teenagers, they had been sexually abused by radio and television personality Jimmy Savile, who had gained access to them through the television programmes he had presented and his charity work.[4] Following the broadcast, many other people came forward to make allegations about Savile's conduct towards young people, including sexual abuse that had taken place on BBC premises and in hospitals to which Savile had access.[5]
Initial assessments
On 4 October 2012, the Metropolitan Police said it would take the national lead in a process of assessing the allegations.[6][7] The assessment was undertaken by the Serious Case Team of the service's Child Abuse Investigation Command, led by Detective Superintendent David Gray working closely with the BBC. The police said, "Our priority will be to ensure a proportionate and consistent policing response putting the victims at the heart of our enquiries", and that "it is not an investigation at this stage".[6]
The Metropolitan Police announced on 9 October that the inquiry into the allegations would be called Operation Yewtree, and would be undertaken jointly with the NSPCC. The police had formally recorded eight allegations against Savile, but announced they were following 120 lines of inquiry, covering up to 25 victims of abuse, mainly girls aged between 13 and 16. The allegations covered four decades, from 1959 until the 1980s, and were on "a national scale". Commander Peter Spindler, head of specialist crime investigations,[8] said, "At this stage it is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender."[9]
"Yewtree" was chosen from a list of names which are intended to be neutral and unrelated to each particular case. This system, dating back to the 1980s, is used for operations which are started to handle specific crimes, as opposed to more general, pro-active operations with names connected to their intent.[10]
The Metropolitan Police launched a criminal investigation on 19 October 2012 as, in addition to the historic allegations of child sex abuse by Savile, there were "lines of inquiry involving living people that require formal investigation".[11] The criminal investigations within Operation Yewtree were led by Detective Chief Inspector Michael Orchard as the Senior Investigating Officer and overseen by Chief Superintendent Keith Niven, head of the Metropolitan Police's child abuse investigation command,[12] and by December 2012, 30 officers were involved with the case.[13] Noting that the operation was "dealing with alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale" and that it "empowered a staggering number of victims to come forward to report the sexual exploitation which occurred during their childhood",[14][15] Commander Peter Spindler said that: "We are dealing with a major criminal investigation. This is a watershed moment for child abuse investigations and Yewtree will be a landmark investigation."[12] The operation follows three strands: allegations against Savile, allegations against Savile and others, and allegations just involving others.[16] On 11 December, the Metropolitan Police stated that the investigation of the abuse undertaken by Savile had been completed and the report into his alleged offending, Giving Victims a Voice, was released in January 2013.[13]
The investigation into "others" continued after the Savile investigation concluded. In May 2013, The New York Times reported that "at least 69 police officers and staff members" were involved in the operation and that many of the suspects were celebrities.[17] The operation passed files to South Yorkshire Police in the investigation of Cliff Richard,[18] and passed files to North Yorkshire Police in the investigation of Jimmy Tarbuck.[19] Neither case resulted in charges.[20][21] In June 2016, after child abuse allegations regarding Clement Freud were made public, it was reported that Operation Yewtree had been passed information about Freud in 2012 when two alleged victims made accusations to the NSPCC.[22]
In late 2015, Operation Yewtree was folded into Operation Winter Key, the Met's component of Operation Hydrant.[23] A December 2015 freedom of information disclosure revealed that Scotland Yard had spent £2.2m a year on Operation Yewtree.[24]
Gadd was questioned and released on bail until 5 June 2014,[27][28] when he was charged with eight child sex offences dating back to the 1970s.[29][30] On 5 February 2015, Gadd was convicted of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault, and one count of having sex with a girl under the age of 13. He was acquitted of the three other counts.[31]
Sentenced on 27 February 2015 to 16 years in prison.[32] Gadd was released on licence in February 2023,[33] but was recalled to prison in March of that year for breaching his licence conditions.[34]
Arrested in Bedfordshire on 15 November, Griffin[35] was later released on bail. The police said allegations against him were unrelated to Savile, and Griffin said his arrest had been on matters not linked to children.[36] Griffin was re-arrested on 13 March 2013 on suspicion of further sexual offences.[37] Griffin was charged on 15 August 2013 on suspicion of twelve historical sex offences.[38] Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, on 13 February 2014 Griffin was found not guilty on twelve counts of sexual assault, with the jury unable to reach a decision on a further two counts.[39] Griffin faced a retrial on the two outstanding counts in September 2014 and also faced a new charge of indecently assaulting a researcher working on TV's Mrs Merton Show in 1995. He was convicted of this charge.[40] Griffin was acquitted on one count, and on the third count the jury were unable to return a verdict.
Sentenced to three months in prison suspended for two years.[41]
After his release on bail, he denied what he termed the "damaging and totally untrue allegations".[43] On 26 April 2013, Clifford was charged with eleven indecent assaults against girls and young women between 1965 and 1985.[44] On 28 April 2014, Clifford was convicted of eight charges of indecent assault, acquitted of two charges of indecent assault and the jury was hung on one charge of indecent assault.[45]
Clifford was rearrested by Operation Yewtree police on 12 March 2015[46] and charged with an additional count of indecent assault on 3 July 2015.[47] He was cleared by a jury of the charge on 7 July 2016.[48]
Australian-born musician, singer-songwriter, painter, and television personality
In late November 2012, an unnamed man in his 80s was questioned by the Metropolitan Police and his Berkshire house was searched.[52] He was arrested in Berkshire on 28 March 2013.[53] On 19 April this was stated by the BBC and other media sources to be Rolf Harris.[54] On 29 August Harris was charged with 13 separate offences relating to the abuse of minors.[55] On 23 December 2013, Harris was charged with 3 further separate sexual assault charges which are against females aged 19 in 1984, aged seven or eight in 1968 or 1969, and aged 14 in 1975.[56] Harris's trial began on 6 May 2014,[57] involving him being accused of grooming a friend of his daughter's from the age of 13 with evidence being an 'apology letter' allegedly written by Harris to the victim's family. Sasha Wass QC, prosecuting, said "Mr Harris was too famous, too powerful and his reputation made him untouchable".[58] He was found guilty on all twelve counts on 30 June 2014.
It was reported in July 2014,[59] October 2014[60] and February 2015,[61] that he was being investigated by police over other alleged sexual offences. On 12 February 2016 the CPS announced that Harris would face seven further indecent assault charges involving seven complainants aged between 12 and 27 and having allegedly occurred from 1971 to 2004.[62] On 8 February 2017, Harris was cleared of three charges. The judge discharged the jury from deliberating on the further four counts of which he was accused.[63] After facing a retrial in May, the jury were unable to reach verdicts and prosecutors announced that they would not pursue another retrial.[64]
Sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on 4 July 2014.[65] Incarcerated at HM Prison Bullingdon, before being moved to HM Prison Stafford. Released from prison on 19 May 2017.[66]
Arrested in June 2013 and bailed until September. On 22 May 2014, he was charged with 41 sex offences.[69] Denning pleaded guilty to 29 charges on 5 August 2014.[70] He pleaded guilty to the remaining charges on 14 November 2014. The offences took place from 1967 to 1987 and involve 26 male victims, the youngest having been nine at the time.[71]
Denning was later convicted of additional offences as part of Operation Ravine.[72]
Sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2014.[73] and an additional 13 years in 2016.[74]
Denning died on 24 June 2022 from diabetes at Bedford Hospital, whilst still serving his sentence.[75]
Initially charged with assaulting four girls under the age of 16 between 1972 and 1985, including one count of rape,[76] Salmon pleaded not guilty.[78] On 6 February 2015 he was found guilty of nine indecent assaults and two rapes, with victims' ages ranging from 11 to 18 and having occurred between 1973 and 1988. Despite working at Stoke Mandeville at the same time as Savile there is no known link between them.[79]
In January 2016, Salmon was charged with 26 child sex offences, including one count of rape.[80] On 12 December 2016, Salmon was convicted of an additional 14 charges.[81]
Sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2015[82] and an additional four years in 2016.[81]
Salmon died from sepsis in hospital in 2018, while in prison custody.[83]
BBC employee N.B. This is not the late broadcaster Geoffrey Wheeler
In September 2016, Wheeler was charged with five counts of indecent assault. He pleaded not guilty and his trial at Southwark Crown Court began in March 2017.[85] On 3 April 2017, Wheeler was convicted on one count of indecent assault and cleared of four other charges.[86]
Sentenced to 50 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £150 in restitution to the victim and £500 towards the prosecution's costs.[86]
Arrested four times by February 2014.[89] On 6 May 2014, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that Starr would not be prosecuted.[90]
Starr later filed a defamation claim against an accuser who claimed that he groped her in Jimmy Savile's dressing room after appearing on Clunk Click when she was 15 in 1974. The judge dismissed the claim and stated that the accuser had proven that he had groped her.[91]
Arrested in Cambridge on suspicion of connected sexual offences; he was later released on bail,[92] denying the claims made against him.[93] No charges were brought against De'Ath after the complainant withdrew her statement in March 2013.[94] De'Ath was later told that he would not face any charges, and said that the police action had been "overzealous".[95]
Smith was the first suspect to be charged in the investigation on 3 April 2013 having been arrested on 10 December 2012.[97] On 28 October 2013, Smith was found dead after failing to appear for a court appearance. Although sometimes described as a "(former) BBC driver", the corporation could find no evidence that he had ever been employed by them.[98] The coroner found that he had committed suicide.[96]
American-British radio and television presenter and author
Two unnamed men aged 64 and 74 were arrested on 29 October at separate addresses in South London,[107] on 1 November 2013, and it was reported that BBC broadcaster Paul Gambaccini was the 64-year-old man arrested on suspicion of historical sexual offences as part of Operation Yewtree. Gambaccini was given bail, and his spokesman said that he denied the allegations.[108] On 10 October 2014, it was announced that he would not be prosecuted.[109]
Arrested in North London on suspicion of sexual offences.[110] On 20 February 2015 he was charged with seven counts of indecent assault on a woman over the age of 16 between July 1983 and July 1984.[111] He pleaded not guilty, and a jury at Harrow Crown Court found him not guilty on 28 November 2016.[113]
The joint report prepared by the Metropolitan Police Service and the NSPCC, Giving Victims a Voice, was published in January 2013, and marked the end of investigations under Operation Yewtree into Savile alone. It reported that sex offences were committed by Savile on 450 people[114] (328 being children at the time),[115] across England and[116] Scotland,[114] with allegations also made in Jersey.[117] The vast majority of offences occurred in his home town of Leeds and in London, his main place of work.[118]
Allegations associating Savile with abuse at Jersey children's home Haut de la Garenne were made in 2008, during Savile's lifetime. He commenced legal action against The Sun newspaper in response; Savile's lawyer said "The reported events are the antithesis of everything Sir James has worked tirelessly to prevent". No action was taken against Savile at this time.[119]
The victims were "mainly not known to each other".[118][120] His youngest victim was aged 8 years, the oldest 47.[116] Most were aged 13–16,[116] with 73% being under 18[118] and the majority being minors.[121] The attacks included 18 girls and 10 boys under the age of 10,[115] and were mostly against young girls aged under 16.[122]
The offences were mostly opportunistic, although child grooming was involved in some cases.[116][118] The first and final known offences were in 1955 and 2009 respectively.[114][116] The period containing most frequent offending was between 1966 and 1976 (when he was aged 40–50),[115][116][118] coinciding with his "peak [celebrity] status".[123] The most frequent offending was during 1975 and 1976 with each year having 15 offences recorded in it.[124]
Most allegations had not previously been reported to authorities, with victims stating reasons of fear of disbelief or distrust of the judicial system.[118] At least seven allegations[117] of sexual assault made to police during Savile's lifetime were not linked.[117] The CPS said prosecutions "might have been possible" in connection with allegations made to Surrey Police between 2007 and 2009.[116]
Savile's celebrity status meant that he was considered to have been "hiding in plain sight".[114][116] Operation Yewtree's senior investigating officer, DSI David Gray, said Savile used Jim'll Fix It "as a vehicle to gain access to victims".[120]
Approximately 600 people had provided information at the time of the publication of the Savile report, Giving Victims a Voice, of which 450 related to Savile.[120][125] A total of 214 criminal offences were formally recorded[121][125][126] across 28 police forces. The NSPCC described Savile as "one of the most prolific sex offenders in its 129-year history".[127] The BBC restated a "sincere apology to the victims".[127]
During Operation Yewtree, several other high-profile British public figures were investigated for sexual offences. These included television and radio presenter Stuart Hall, who was convicted of 15 counts of indecent assault,[128]ITV Granada weatherman Fred Talbot, who was jailed after being found guilty of sexually assaulting two schoolboys,[129] and DJ and friend of Savile, Ray Teret, who was found guilty of seven rapes and eleven indecent assaults and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.[130]Coronation Street actors William Roache and Michael Le Vell were both separately found not guilty of all charges made against them,[131][132] and DJ Neil Fox was acquitted of several charges.[24]
Although these allegations, investigations and prosecutions were not directly connected to Operation Yewtree,[133] they were linked in public imagination.[134] In particular, Roache's defence argued that Operation Yewtree had created an atmosphere in which allegations of sexual abuse against celebrities were more likely to be taken to prosecution,[131] while several other commentators speculated that the decision in particular to prosecute Roache and Le Vell may have been influenced by the high profile of Yewtree.[132][135][136]
In response to a large increase of complainants coming forward in the summer of 2014 in the wake of the Savile scandal, Operation Hydrant, a new operation into historical child sex abuse allegations was launched by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC). As of 20 May 2015, 1433 suspects – including 261 of "public prominence" (135 from TV, film or radio) and 666 from institutions (including 154 from schools, 75 from children's homes, 40 from religious institutions and 14 medical establishments) – have been identified. Operation Hydrant is not responsible for conducting independent investigations; it gathers information from other inquiries, including Operation Yewtree.[137]
Operation Ravine
Operation Ravine is an investigation by Surrey Police into alleged sexual abuse connected to the Walton Hop disco. A previous investigation into the Walton Hop disco, Operation Arundel, resulted in the convictions of Chris Denning and music mogul Jonathan King for child sex offences in the early 2000s. Matthew Kelly was also arrested in 2003, but subsequently cleared of all charges. In January 2014, Merseyside Police carried out an independent review of Operation Arundel and related materials were shared with Operation Yewtree.[138] On 10 September 2015, three men were arrested as part of Operation Ravine, including Jonathan King.[139] Denning was charged with six offences stemming from the investigation on 7 June 2016,[72] and he pleaded guilty to 21 offences on 22 August 2016.[140] Denning, who was already sentenced to 13 years stemming from his Yewtree convictions, was sentenced to an additional 13 years for these offences on 7 October.[141] King stood trial in June 2018 but the jury was discharged for legal reasons.[142] On 6 August 2018, King received an apology for the collapse of the trial, with Judge Deborah Taylor saying that Surrey Police had made "numerous, repeated and compounded" errors during the investigation, describing the situation as a "debacle".[143]
In response to increasing public outcry and government pressure in the wake of the Savile scandal, Metropolitan Police launched Operation Midland in November 2014, to investigate allegations of child abuse against several high-profile British citizens in positions of authority. The operation was conducted over eighteen months against a group of 12 men, but unlike other child abuse cases being investigated, detectives conducting the investigations made several critical errors in regards to the allegations made, the treatment of those accused, and the evidence supplied to them, and failed to find sufficient evidence to support the accusations against the group.[144] The operation ended in March 2016 as a complete failure, causing considerable damage to those accused, damaged the likelihood of genuine victims of abuse coming forward, and cost the Metropolitan Police several millions of pounds in operational costs, compensation, and subsequent investigations against the individual who made the allegations. A 2016 inquiry into the conduct of the police taskforce damned the operation for its failings and left considerable questions over the investigative conduct into the accountability of officers for misconduct. The individual who made the false allegations, Carl Beech (himself a child sex offender), was later charged in 2018, and jailed for eighteen years in 2019.[145][146]
Reactions and analysis
Yewtree was credited for an increase in the reporting of sexual offences. Dubbed the "Yewtree effect", reports of sexual offences recorded by police rose 17% by 2013.[3] In 2019, Louis Theroux compared Operation Yewtree to sexual abuse allegations made against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, which led to the Weinstein effect and created a global trend in which powerful men were accused of sexual misconduct.[147]
In response to some having labelled Operation Yewtree a "witch-hunt",[134][148][149] Joan Smith of The Guardian stated that the conviction of Max Clifford vindicated the operation,[134] and Martin Evans of The Daily Telegraph said that despite several high-profile failures, Rolf Harris' conviction vindicated it.[148] Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe denied claims of a witch-hunt, commenting that the alternative would be to ignore allegations.[149]Paul Gambaccini, who was arrested and bailed repeatedly for a year before being told he would face no further action, testified before the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee on 3 March 2015. He told MPs he was the victim of a witch-hunt and that he was used as human "fly paper" to encourage other people to come forward and make allegations against him. Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders denied the allegations.[150] In a November 2015 debate organized by the NSPCC on whether investigations into historic sexual abuse had turned into "media witch-hunts", former Metropolitan Police commander Peter Spindler said that police "got some things wrong" and that they "didn't have sufficient resources in place".[1]
In an article for The Spectator, Rod Liddle criticised the handling of these cases by police, especially in the case of Freddie Starr, who was arrested four times and bailed nine times before being told he would not be charged, claiming: "the way the police have conducted the process is hugely unfair".[151] In the aftermath of Cliff Richard's August 2014 property search, human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson wrote in The Independent that the long delays before announcing charges amounted to "outrageous treatment", adding: "This has been one of the most intolerable features of other high-profile arrests for 'historic' offences, namely the inability of police and prosecutors to deliver Magna Carta’s truly historic promise that justice will not be delayed."[152] After others, including Jim Davidson and Gambaccini, were left on bail for many months before being told they would not face charges, then-Home Secretary Theresa May proposed that bail time be limited to 28 days.[153][154] The 28-day limit came into effect in April 2017.[155]
Noting that some of the high-profile arrests did not lead to convictions, Variety described Operation Yewtree as a "botched" investigation.[156] At a Labour Party conference in July 2014, comedian and friend of Gambaccini Stephen Fry criticised the operation, pointing out that fewer than half of those accused at the time had been found guilty, and called for tougher laws to prevent false sex abuse allegations.[157] MP Nigel Evans, who was cleared of unrelated sexual assault charges, called for individuals to receive anonymity until charged after the CPS announced that it would not charge Gambaccini.[158] Although the case against Dave Lee Travis resulted in a conviction on one count of indecent assault for groping an adult woman's breast for 15 seconds in 1995, Rosie Millard and Carole Malone wrote separate opinion pieces in The Independent and The Daily Mirror respectively in which they questioned whether police resources should have been spent pursuing other crimes.[159][160]
In February 2016, Irish Supreme Court Judge Adrian Hardiman criticised the methods used by Operation Yewtree, particularly the treatment of Paul Gambaccini, as well as the investigations of Cliff Richard and the Operation Midland cases of Leon Brittan and Edwin Bramall, for what he described as the radical undermining of the presumption of innocence.[161]Richard Henriques conducted an inquiry into the Metropolitan Police's sexual abuse investigations and was critical of the handling of Operation Midland but reserved praise for Operation Yewtree.[162] Gambaccini, Bramall and Harvey Proctor, who had been investigated by Operation Midland, sued the Metropolitan Police for £3m in February 2017.[163] In November 2018, Gambaccini reached an out-of-court settlement with the Crown Prosecution Service and received an undisclosed amount in damages.[164]
Operation Yewtree was the inspiration for a drama, National Treasure, starring Robbie Coltrane, Julie Walters and Andrea Riseborough. Coltrane played Paul Finchley, a fictional light-entertainment performer accused of rape, Walters played Finchley's wife Marie, and Riseborough played their daughter Danielle ("Dee"). The four-part series, by The Forge, was broadcast September–October 2016 on Channel 4.[165] A Channel 4 documentary titled The Accused: National Treasures on Trial examined the investigation in 2022.[156]
Maxwell Frank Clifford was an English publicist who was particularly associated with promoting "kiss and tell" stories in tabloid newspapers.
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile was an English media personality and DJ. Savile was well known in the United Kingdom for his eccentric image, charitable work, and hosting the BBC shows Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It. After his death, hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse made against him were investigated, leading the police to conclude that he had been a predatory sex offender and possibly one of Britain's most prolific. There had been allegations during his lifetime, but they were dismissed and accusers were ignored or disbelieved.
James Stuart Hall Jr. is an English former media personality and convicted sex offender. He presented regional news programmes for the BBC in North West England in the 1960s and 1970s, while becoming known nationally for presenting the game show It's a Knockout. Hall's later career mainly involved football reporting on BBC Radio. In June 2013, he was convicted of multiple sexual offences against children, effectively ending his media and broadcasting career.
Paul Matthew Gambaccini is an American-British radio and television presenter and author. He is a dual citizen of the United States and United Kingdom, having become a British citizen in 2005.
Christopher David Denning was an English radio presenter and sex offender. His career effectively ended when he was convicted of sexual offences in 1974. He was imprisoned several times in the United Kingdom, Czechia and Slovakia between 1985 and his death in custody in 2022.
David Patrick Griffin, known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English former disc jockey, and former television presenter.
The North Wales child abuse scandal was the subject of a three-year, £13 million investigation into the physical and sexual abuse of children in care homes in the counties of Clwyd and Gwynedd, in North Wales, including the Bryn Estyn children's home at Wrexham, between 1974 and 1990. The report into the scandal, headed by retired High Court judge Sir Ronald Waterhouse QC, which was published in 2000, resulted in changes in policy in England and Wales into how authorities deal with children in care, and to the settling of 140 compensation claims on behalf of victims of child abuse.
An investigation into historic child abuse in Jersey started in the spring of 2007. Before that, social worker Simon Bellwood had made a complaint about a "'Dickensian' system" where children as young as 11 were routinely locked up for 24 hours or more in solitary confinement in a secure unit where he worked. The wider investigation into child abuse over several decades became public in November that year. It received international attention when police moved in on Haut de la Garenne, then being used as a youth hostel.
In late 2012 it emerged that Jimmy Savile, a British media personality who had died the previous year, had sexually abused hundreds of people throughout his life, mostly children but some as old as 75, and mostly female. He had been well known in the United Kingdom for his eccentric image and was generally respected for his charitable work, which associated him with the British monarchy and other individuals of personal power.
Raymond Teret was an English radio disc jockey and convicted sex offender.
In 2012 and 2013, the British Broadcasting Corporation was involved in a series of investigations, accusations and scandals related to sexual abuse committed by employees, and the reporting of allegations of abuse by others. The issue of child sexual abuse by BBC employees was publicised nationally in October 2012 as part of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal. Savile was a radio DJ and TV personality who presented the programmes Top of the Pops, Jim'll Fix It and Clunk Click, and was a well known charity fundraiser. Allegations of sexual abuse by Savile and other BBC employees were reported to have taken place in a number of locations across the country, including BBC Television Centre.
The Elm Guest House was a hotel in Rocks Lane, near Barnes Common in southwest London. In a list produced by convicted fraudster Chris Fay, several prominent British men were alleged to have engaged in sexual abuse and child grooming at the Guest House in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Labour MP Tom Watson, having heard testimony from Carl Beech, suggested in an October 2012 statement to the House of Commons that a paedophile network which had existed at this time may have brought children to parties at the private residence.
Giving Victims a Voice is a report published in January 2013, relating to allegations of sexual abuse made against English DJ and BBC Television presenter Jimmy Savile (1926–2011) as part of the Operation Yewtree criminal investigation. It was initiated as a result of publicity surrounding the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) jointly produced this report. It marked the end of investigations made under the operation regarding Savile alone.
Mark Alan Williams-Thomas is an English investigative journalist, sexual abuse victim advocate, and former police officer. He is a regular reporter on This Morning and Channel 4 News, as well as the ITV series Exposure and the ITV and Netflix crime series The Investigator: A British Crime Story.
Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom has been reported in the country throughout its history. In about 90% of cases the abuser is a person known to the child. However, cases during the second half of the twentieth century, involving religious institutions, schools, popular entertainers, politicians, military personnel, and other officials, have been revealed and widely publicised since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Child sexual abuse rings in numerous towns and cities across the UK have also drawn considerable attention.
Operation Midland was a criminal investigation which the London Metropolitan Police carried out between November 2014 and March 2016 in response to false allegations of historic child abuse made by Carl Beech.
Operation Hydrant is a British police investigation into allegations of "non-recent" child sexual abuse. It co-ordinates a number of other investigations by police forces throughout the United Kingdom. It is headed by Simon Bailey, the Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary. It began after the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal prompted more complainants to come forward.
Operation Whistle is an investigation by the States of Jersey Police into allegations of historical sexual abuse of children in Jersey. In a press release by the States of Jersey Police, they have stated that it is being carried on under the auspices of Operation Hydrant. It is cooperating with Operation Yewtree due to the involvement of entertainer Jimmy Savile.
In October 2012, Dame Janet Smith was appointed by the BBC to lead an inquiry into the corporation's connection to the sexual abuse committed by Jimmy Savile, a popular television and radio host. The final report, titled The Dame Janet Smith Review Report, was published on 25 February 2016.
A child sexual abuse scandal involving the abuse of young players at football clubs in the United Kingdom began in mid-November 2016. The revelations began when former professional footballers waived their rights to anonymity and talked publicly about being abused by former coaches and scouts in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. This led to a surge of further allegations, as well as allegations that some clubs had covered them up.
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