Jimmy Savile Abused At Least 60 Patients At UK Hospital: Report

Serial sex-abuser Jimmy Savile abused over 60 patients at a U.K. hospital despite multiple complaints being lodged with authorities, a report published Thursday has found. The independent report, compiled on behalf of the U.K.'s National Health Service, examined incidents associated with Savile that took place at Stoke Mandeville hospital from 1968 through 1992.

Savile's victims included an eight-year-old girl who was raped 10 times by the disc jockey who enjoyed widespread access to the hospital in Buckinghamshire, England, due to his activities as a fundraiser and a volunteer porter at the facility. The report found that Savile had "virtually unrestricted access" to clinical areas and patients during the 1970s and 1980s, and that several allegations of sexual abuse concerning Savile were reported to hospital staff between 1972 and 1985, but were “probably filtered out” before they could reach senior managers, according to the BBC.

According to the report, one female victim was raped by Savile in her hospital bed when she was 12. She informed a nurse that Savile, then a volunteer hospital porter, had hurt her “down there,” but the nurse told her not to report the incident as she [the nurse] might get in trouble, Sky News reported.

The report by Dr. Androulla Johnstone and Christine Dent for the NHS Health and Social Care Advisory Service describes Savile as “an opportunistic predator who could also on occasions show a high degree of premeditation when planning attacks on his victims,” the Guardian reported.

U.K. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected to apologize to dozens of patients who were abused in the hospital, after the report detailed the “horrific” extent of the sexual abuse that Savile carried out there, according to the Telegraph.

Caroline Moore, a victim at the hospital, previously told the U.K.'s Channel 4 News of how Savile preyed on her when she was 13 during her recovery from spinal fusion treatment. "What I find horrific is that people who worked at these organizations knew what was going on - and did nothing about it," she said. "I hope that the reports, when they are published, bring some people to task. We deserve redress and we deserve to know how this could have ever happened."

Savile, who died in October 2011, is believed to be one of the U.K.'s most prolific sex offenders, allegedly abusing over 500 victims, according to the Washington Post.

In addition to Savile, a number of U.K. media personalities, including TV presenter Rolf Harris, have been investigated or convicted of historic sexual offenses, resulting from a police investigation codenamed Operation Yewtree.