The Jaconelli Ring and Rampton

The Jaconelli Ring and Rampton

•  – an almost-forgotten 1972 Jimmy Savile interview backs up Corruption Buster Tim Hicks’ Savile/Rampton/Scarborough sortie allegations.

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Background

Following on from the Express article by James Murray and Mark Branagan which alleged that Savile was investigated by North Yorkshire Police as being part of a paedophile ring in 2003, that allegedly involved two prominent businessmen in Scarborough, Mayor Peter Jaconelli and Arcade Boss Jimmy Corrigan.

I have previously identified that Jaconelli and Corrigan visited the BBC at Savile’s request.

I am now able to confirm the connection of Jaconelli, Savile and Corrigan to Rampton Secure Mental Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

Jaconelli’s Meetings With Patients From Rampton

The official position of the authorities at Rampton is that Savile visited patients in the 1970s but it had not received any complaints about him.  However, according to an article published in the Sunday People in 1972:

• Jimmy Savile did have access to patients from Rampton.

• On one occasion in 1971 he took nine vulnerable mentally retarded patients to Scarborough by bus.

• On another in 1972 he took twelve vulnerable mentally retarded patients by train from Repton Railway Station to Scarborough

• On the first occasion they were entertained by Savile and his Worship the Mayor (thought to be Jaconelli) in his Council Offices.

• On the second they were given money by Jimmy Corrrigan and taken to his amusement arcades, then taken by Jaconelli in one of his ice cream parlours from which members of the public had been excluded.

Savile’s appointment was “Honorary Entertainments Officer at Broadmoor”. He had no official position at Rampton, so if he wanted to take mentally-retarded patients to the seaside, why not take them from Broadmoor to the nearby South Coast?

Why organise an excursion for patients at Rampton – an institution he had no responsibility for – to Scarborough?

Councillor Geoff Evans and others have stated that Savile’s friend Peter Jaconelli’s paedophile activities were well known to the Police in Scarborough and they left him alone because of his status as Mayor.

If this is so it would have provided a completely benign environment for Jaconelli and his associates at Scarborough, to do whatever they wanted without fear of any interference from the police.

Hence perhaps the reason that Savile spent so much time in Scarborough, even after the death of his mother Agnes in 1972.

The Sunday People article confirms that Savile took patients from the safety of a secure controlled environment at Rampton to visit his close friends Peter Jaconelli and Jimmy Corrigan. The patients did not meet anyone else.

They were taken to Jaconelli at his Council offices in 1971.  During the 1972 visit they met him at one of his ice cream parlours (where Jaconelli is alleged to have routinely committed sexual offences) and from which the public had been specifically excluded, thereby ensuring that there were no witnesses to what happened.

The conclusion is therefore inescapable that Savile chose to take patients from Rampton to Scarborough in preference to taking patients from Broadmoor because:

Rampton is closer to Scarborough and where the other members of Jaconelli’s ring were located.

Scarborough was Savile’s preferred place to offend because Jaconelli’s status ensured they could operate safely without fear of arrest.

The sole reason behind both trips was to move vulnerable people to Scarborough to Jaconelli.

Given the allegations against Jaconelli and Savile, the concern must be that it is highly likely that the patients were abused on both visits, possibly even in the Mayor’s Council Offices.

North Yorkshire Police are alleged to have known all about Jaconelli and his offending at his ice creamparlours and the Ippon Judo Club for some considerable time before the 1970’s.

I understand that standard procedure is to notify the police that a party of several “potentially violent” prisoners from a secure mental hospital would be in the force area, so presumably North Yorkshire Police knew all about these visits and probably consented to them.

The Police must therefore have been fully aware as early as 1972 of Savile’s close association with Jaconelli and Corrigan, and that Savile had transported vulnerable patients to Jaconelli at a private location Jaconelli had previously been suspected of committing sexual offences at.  Hence perhaps the Police interest in Jaconelli, Savile and Corrigan in the 2003 paedophile investigation.

This makes the force statement on the matter:

“When the allegations surrounding Jimmy Savile were publicised, we carried out extensive searches of force records which did not reveal a local connection.” 

and its failure to provide any intelligence on Savile to Surrey Police following enquiries from that force in 2007, even more concerning.

The Implications of the New Evidence

This has some serious implications for a number of organisations.

Because of his celebrity status, the publicity and investigations have focused on Savile “Britains most prolific paedofile”.  Scarborough and Jaconelli have until now been largely ignored by everyone except the Express and Real Whitby.

Jaconelli was the key player who provided Savile with a benign environment for his abuse in Scarborough at a number of locations we have identified in Scarborough where he could act with impunity.

In return, Savile rewarded Jaconelli and the other members of his ring with access to vulnerable hospital patients, trips to the BBC (with further opportunities for abuse of children) and free publicity.

• Operation Yewtree will now have to consider that Scarborough was a key location for Savile’s offending and that he operated there in a ring with Jaconelli, -who operated as a pedophile from at least 1955 until his death in 1999 -with police acquiescence.  Unquestionably Jaconelli was “Britains most successful paedophile”, receiving (incredibly) the Honorary title of Alderman from Scarborough Borough Council for his services as a Councillor and Mayor, despite everyone knowing he routinely abused children.

• The Investigation by Ms Kate Lampard QC into Savile’s abuse at the NHS will now have to consider if Savile abused patients from Rampton -previously thought to have avoided his attentions- himself and also transported them to other abusers.

• Scarborough Borough Council must now face up to the possibility that Savile and Jaconelli abused vulnerable people in the Mayor’s office on Council premises.

• HMIC and the IPCC will now have to consider why North Yorkshire Police did not make any of their intelligence on Savile and Jaconelli available to Surrey Police’s Operation Ornament, following an enquiry from them asking for information on Savile, which could well have led to Savile’s arrest.

The Response of the Authorities

This has validated the concerns we have raised about Jaconelli’s relationship with Scarborough Borough Council, North Yorkshire County Council and particularly North Yorkshire Police.  They have also been raised in the national press, so one would think there would be a denial or at least some reaction from the Authorities concerned.  However, -incredibly- the response has been a THUNDEROUS SILENCE:

• Chief Constable Tim Madgwick has not issued any statement denying these grave allegations.

• Scarborough Council Leader Tom Fox (also the Officer commanding Policing in Scarborough before his retirement) during the time that Savile and Jaconelli were actively committing offences has not responded to Nigel Ward’s question submitted on the 18^th of February:

“What is the intention of the Leader in respect of the many serious allegations, every bit as horrific as those against Jimmy SAVILE, against former Councillor and Mayor Peter JACONELLI, in respect of his status as Alderman of the Borough. Is there a process in train for the Council to adopt the same approach as in the SAVILE case?”

• Mr Trevor Harrington has not had any response from SBC to his Formal Complaint about Jaconelli requesting that Jaconelli is stripped of his Aldermanship, which was submitted on the 13^th of February 2013.  It has simply been ignored.

• None of our requests to confirm whether or not officers of North Yorkshire Police attended Savile’s Friday Morning Club in Leeds, or any other social functions with Savile have received a response from West Yorkshire or North Yorkshire Police.

• As yet, none of our Freedom of Information Requests have been answered.

A policy of simply maintaining a right to silence in the face of grave and well documented allegations of misconduct is contrary to the public interest.  I would again appeal for a full and open statement from North Yorkshire Police, Scarborough Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council on what they knew about Jaconelli and an apology.

In particular: the application of Mr Trevor Harrington for Peter Jaconelli to be stripped of his status of Alderman, that Scarborough Borough Council is ignoring and should be responded to.

OPERATION YEWTREE

If any reader has information that he/she wishes to pass on to the Metropolitan Police investigation into the activities of Savile and his associates in Scarborough and Whitby, they should contact:

The Operation Yewtree Incident Room, on 0208 217 6446 in complete confidence, indicating they are doing so pursuant to the Real Whitby investigation.