Investigations into sexual abuse by late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile have widened after a wave of new allegations, the British Health Secretary said on Thursday.
In all 41 National Health Service organisations are now investigating abuse by Savile, one of the biggest TV stars in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, revealed as a prolific sex abuser after his death.
Inquiries at 28 hospitals, published in June, found that Savile abused vulnerable patients in scores of hospitals and claimed to have performed oral sex acts on dead bodies.
Lawyers for Savile’s victims said that it was concerning to see new worries emerge.
An investigation into alleged abuse by Savile in schools and children’s homes would be delayed, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said.
The transformation of the image of a once-celebrated TV figure shocked Britain and prompted national soul-searching.
A wide-ranging investigation into how British institutions dealt with the protection of children from sexual abuse was launched in the wake of a series of high-profile historical cases.
Caroline Moore, 55, said Savile attacked her in a hospital in Buckinghamshire when she was recovering from spinal fusion treatment aged 13, and that she and other victims deserved redress.
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