Detectives investigating historical sex abuse allegations have identified 1,400 suspects. Although they declined to give an exact figure or the number of alleged victims, the figure is thought to run into the thousands.
The figures come from Operation Hydrant, which was set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to investigate allegations of abuse by a “prominent public person”.
Simon Bailey, Chief Constable of Norfolk Police, said that out of the 1,433 people investigated, 135 are from the entertainment industry, 76 are politicians, 43 are from the music industry and seven are sportsmen.
Sky News reports that a total of 357 institutions have also been identified as places where abuse allegedly happened, including 154 schools, 40 religious institutions, 75 children’s homes, 14 medical establishments and nine prisons.
Police says they expect to have received around 116,000 reports of child sex abuse by the end of the year.
Mr Bailey said: “The referrals are increasing on an almost daily basis. The numbers I refer to today are a snapshot in time.”
Referring to paedophile DJ Jimmy Savile who, after his death, was revealed to be one of the most prolific sex offenders in living memory, Mr Bailey added: “There is no doubt Savile has had an effect on us. We are dealing with more and more allegations.”
Savile abused hundreds of victims aged five to 75 at 28 different institutions, but was never prosecuted for his crimes as allegations only emerged after his death.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.