NSPCC report: Jimmy Savile victims were 'laughed at'

According to an NSPCC report, many victims of Jimmy Savile were ignored, dismissed, or laughed at by those they confided to about the abuse.

16:20 24 February 2014

In a report commission by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, it was revealed that the main reason why so many Jimmy Savile victims did not formally report the incidents right away is because they were either ignored, dismissed, or laughed at by those officials with whom they initially confided about the abuse.

The report said that the accounts were “heart-rending.”

Jimmy Savile was a presenter of the BBC’s Top Of The Pops and Jim’ll Fix it. He died in October 2011 at the age of 84 a year before allegations that he had sexually abused children were widely broadcast in an ITV documentary. Because of this, many alleged victims found the courage to come forward.

The report says: "Some remembered feeling that an elder - particularly a celebrity like Jimmy Savile - must know better than they did.

"There were also cases where participants also remembered feeling conflicted, and wondering if they should feel flattered or grateful that he had 'chosen them'."
There was an "overwhelming belief" they would not have been believed at the time.

"Jimmy Savile was a powerful and influential adult, who was seen as a 'charitable, good guy' raising a lot of money for charity," the report says.

"This led to feelings of hopelessness and inferiority in his victims, who felt there was no way that their word would have been believed over his."