Savile sex scandal involves about 300 victims: Scotland Yard

LONDON // Police investigating alleged sexual abuse of young girls by the former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile said yesterday that they were pursuing more than 400 lines of inquiry involving about 300 victims.

The leader of the inquiry, Commander Peter Spindler of Scotland Yard, said that all bar two of the potential victims were women and that the vast majority of alleged offences involved Savile, who died last year.

"It's quite staggering," he said.

Police had spoken to 130 victims to date and recorded 114 reports of sexual assault, mostly against Savile. No arrests have been made so far.

Mr Spindler did not say who else might have been involved but lawyers representing some of the victims, several of whom were as young as eight when the abuse occurred, said their clients had indicated a paedophile ring involving other celebrities had existed at the BBC during the height of Savile's fame in the 1970s and 80s.

"There's Savile on his own, and that's the vast majority of what we're being told about, there's Savile and others - and it's the others, if they're living, we can look at," he said.

The BBC has been thrown into disarray by accusations it helped cover up sexual abuse by Savile, and has struggled to explain why one of its own shows killed an investigation into it. At this stage there was no evidence of an organised paedophile ring, Mr Spindler added.

Known for his distinctive platinum hair, shiny tracksuits and ever-present cigar, Savile was one of Britain's top broadcasters and presented a string of programmes that brought him into contact with children.

He also earned millions of pounds for various charities.

But the abuse allegations that emerged since his death in October last year have destroyed his reputation.

The BBC has launched two inquiries into the scandal.

Earlier yesterday, UK newspapers reported that police investigating the Savile case had been passed the names of three doctors accused of sexually abusing children.

The doctors worked at hospitals where Savile is also alleged to have molested young and vulnerable patients while carrying out charity work, the Guardian and the Daily Mail newspapers reported.

The BBC Trust chairman yesterday defended George Entwistle, the director general of the BBC, who appeared before the British parliament this week to answer questions over the Savile saga.

Mr Entwistle has only been in the position since September 17.

"It was a very, very difficult initial baptism of fire ... This broke over him, this great tsunami of filth, broke over him 11 days into the job," Chris Patten said.

* Reuters with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press