British TV presenter Jimmy Savile raped dozens, police say
Britain's late TV presenter and radio host Jimmy Savile sexually abused hundreds of people and carried out more than 30 rapes, police said Friday, as they unveiled a report exposing "vast, predatory and opportunistic" abuses across six decades, CNN reported.
Nearly three-quarters of his victims were children, the report said, with the youngest only 8 years old. Most but not all were female.
Since the inquiry was launched three months ago, about 600 people have come forward to provide information, 450 relating to Savile, London's Metropolitan Police said.
From this, 214 crimes have been recorded, including 34 of rape or penetration, across the country.
The earliest claim against Savile, who was still a household name when he died in 2011, dates from 1955 and the latest from 2009, when he was in his 80s.
Savile used his celebrity to "hide in plain sight" as he opportunistically preyed on the children and young people with whom he came into contact as he presented BBC children's show "Jim'll Fix It" and music show "Top of the Pops," the report said.
Dozens of offenses on BBC premises have been reported across a 40-year span between 1965 and 2006 -- the last at the final recording of "Top of the Pops."
Fifty allegations against Savile relate to hospital premises, including hospices, the report said. Another 14 relate to schools, including a reform school he visited regularly between 1970 and 1978.
The scale of his abuse is believed to be unprecedented in the UK, it said.