Savile/Jaconelli paedophile ring: NYP cover-up continues

Savile/Jaconelli/Corrigan paedophile ring: NYP cover-up continues

• – by Tim Hicks, reporting on the latest developments in the Scarborough/Whitby Savile investigation now coming under examination by Operation Yewtree.

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BACKGROUND

The series of articles we have run on Jimmy Savile has identified that Savile appears to have operated in Scarborough and Whitby in a paedophile-ring comprising himself, Mr Peter Jaconelli (Councillor and a Mayor of Scarborough, local business man who owned a string of ice cream parlours in Scarborough and along with Savile visited Whitby,) and Mr Jimmy Corrigan (local businessman who owned arcades in Scarborough).

Access to all of the information we have gathered can be obtained here:

Savile and Corrigan were members of the same marathon-running club, based in Scarborough, which also included Mr Alan Franey – a member of the Leeds General Infirmary NHS Management Team where Savile was a volunteer and was given free access to patients, thus allowing him to abuse them at will.

Savile then insisted that Mr Franey became a senior member of his NHS Broadmoor Taskforce and he was duly appointed General Manager under Savile’s patronage. According to witnesses Savile was granted unfettered and unsupervised access to patients, some of whom he also abused.

On Savile’s death, Mr Franey gave his close friend a fulsome, moving and truly heartfelt tribute, indicating the remarkable (given that Savile was a lifelong loner) depth of friendship and warm, personal affection between them:

“I spent a lot of time with him and would say I knew him probably as well as anybody else knew him . . . I spoke to him last Wednesday and asked him how he was, and he said he was feeling very tired and short of breath. Mentally, he was very alert. But he said to me: ‘I’m coming to the end of the tunnel’”.

According to local Scarborough and Whitby sources:

• Jaconelli was well known locally to be a paedophile and had several brushes with the law.  He came to the attention of the authorities in about 1960 over an incident in the Judo club he ran between 1955 and 1960 which had children as members and which was closed down as a result.

• Corrigan was arrested and cautioned for an incident in the lavatories on Scarborough sea front.

As previously quoted: “It is impossible for . . . Scarborough Police in particular not to be aware of either Savile or Jaconelli’s activities.  Everybody I knew in the 70′s and 80′s knew Jaconelli’s reputation. Whether he was guilty or not is almost irrelevant. The fact is the town was alive with rumours and accusations which should have been, at the very least, investigated. The Police are saying there is no record of an investigation; outrageous. I frankly don’t believe that.”

SATANISM AND SADISM AT STOKE MANDEVILLE AND WHITBY

• Savile, Jaconelli and others were involved in satanism and used a house in Whitby which had a room known as “the rituals or functions room”, or “the chamber”, equipped with a whipping-post, black candles and a painted pentagram.
  

The national press also confirmed the allegations, first made by “Corruption Busters”, that Savile was involved in sexual offences connected with Satanism and sadism.  The description of the room used for one of these sessions in Stoke Mandevile Hospital in the article is very similar to the description of the room in Whitby used by Savile and Jaconelli, given to Nigel Ward by local witnesses.

PAEDOPHILISM IN SCARBOROUGH

According to The Express,  Savile was targeting under-age girls for sex in Scarborough. During a major paedophile investigation in Scarborough in 2003, members of the public were questioned by Scarborough Police about Jimmy Savile’s involvement.

It certainly seems strange that if indeed “senior police officers investigating a suspected paedophile-ring operating around seafront arcades (owned and operated by Corrigan) in Scarborough in the 1980s had concerns that Jimmy Savile may have been involved. Although his name was repeatedly mentioned to the 2003 investigation team, Savile was never quizzed over targeting under-age girls for sex between 1982 and 1986”.

Real Whitby investigators have uncovered evidence identifying the following locations as being associated with Savile, Corrigan and/or Jaconelli, many of them frequented by young people:

• Savile’s flat on The Esplanade.

• His caravan overlooking Scarborough where Savile boasted that he took girls for sex.

• His camper van and the garage he kept it in.

• Premises in Whitby with the “chamber”, shackles, whipping-post and other sado-masochistic devices.

• The Judo club in Huntriss Row.

• Jaconelli’s ice-cream parlours.

• Corrigan’s amusement arcades.

• Scarborough College.

• Throxenby Hall (a care-home for distressed children).

• Graham School.

• Woodlands School.

• Raincliffe School.

• The public toilets on the seafront.

• The Wimpy Bar that used to be opposite Scarborough Railway Station.

• We also know he travelled on the railway between Leeds and Scarborough

Corruption Busters are also aware of a statement alleging the existence and whereabouts of tangible evidence. We have corroborated this information with a national journalist and acknowledged Savile expert, and a separate other source.

We may also have discovered information that could identify other members of the ring/club/set in Scarborough and Whitby, possibly leaving them open to prosecution.

NORTH YORKSHIRE POLICE COVER-UP

All of this information has been made available to North Yorkshire Police (NYP); given the gravity of the allegations and the national publicity they have received, one would think that they would be pleased to receive this plethora of information concerning such an important case.

Yet the response from North Yorkshire Police has been stone-cold frosty silence. Whilst they have passed on our information to Operation Yewtree, they have announced no investigative action being taken and they have not even enquired about the room in Whitby.

Well why should that be?

Surely the police would be overjoyed at citizens coming forward to give them information – particularly as this does not just relate to historical allegations of abuse by offenders that are now dead, but to offences in Scarborough and Whitby that were not resolved at the time, committed by associates of Savile who are still alive and could still be arrested, as in the Manchester case referred to below.  It is also possible they may still be offending. 

In summary, according to open sources and the numerous local sources we have developed (using standard investigative methods of asking for assistance, interviewing, talking to witnesses, researching backgrounds, reading open sources, visiting potential crime scenes etc), Savile, Jaconelli and Corrigan were involved in the longest-running (and from that point of view unquestionably the most successful) and possibly the most prolific paedophile-ring in British history, in Scarborough from 1955 to about 2006, when Savile ceased offending.

Over its lifetime, the Savile/Corrigan/Jaconelli-ring evaded detection for fifty one years in total, despite its members being known locally to have been active in child-abuse, including to Scarborough Police

According to numerous reports, NYP were well aware of the three principal offenders – and almost certainly its other members for most of that time; yet no action was taken and the Savile set were not inconvenienced in any way by North Yorkshire Police, allegedly because of their celebrity status and local political influence.

Clearly this is embarrassing for NYP.

According to Operation Yewtree (the Scotland Yard investigation into Savile), he committed eight offences in North Yorkshire (not the two NYP have referred to on their website). Because of the understandable reluctance of victims to come forward and because – uniquely amongst the locations Savile, operated in – Scarborough and Whitby are seaside towns attracting young drifters; we suspect the actual number is very much higher.

Nevertheless, North Yorkshire is the fifth most prevalent Police Force area (out of twenty eight) for offending by Savile and his associates in the UK, and certainly the longest-running.

1. Metropolitan Police; 43 offences.  Savile interviewed 1971.

2. West Yorkshire Police; 34 offences.  Savile interviewed 1958.

3. Thames Valley Police; 30 offences.  Savile interviewed 1970.

4. Greater Manchester; 14 offences.  Savile interviewed 1950’s, two former Savile associates arrested in 2012 in unrelated sexual offences investigation.

5. North Yorkshire; 8 offences. Savile not interviewed at all.

Other Forces where offences occurred interviewed Savile or investigated him, in the 1980’s and in the period 2003 to 2009, but not NYP.

The official NYP explanation is that:

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

Clearly, this is now an untenable proposition.  It appears beyond doubt that there is a local connection and that NYP obviously knew of it and the denial that North Yorkshire Police were aware of any local connection has been completely removed.

Curiously, the link to North Yorkshire Police website on which the statement “we carried out extensive searches of force records which did not reveal a local connection” has been revised and now declares only that two women have now come forward to make allegations.

The denial that North Yorkshire Police were aware of any local connection has been completely removed.

NYP must also have known of the other Police investigations and allegations – from their own computer system and from the press.

As part of my investigation I wrote to North Yorkshire Police on the 28^th of October 2012 with a Freedom of Information request asking for information on the case. Although North Yorkshire Police have a duty under the Freedom of Information Act to acknowledge my request and respond to it, my request was nevertheless ignored.

This did not surprise me, North Yorkshire Police have been ignoring correspondence from me including Freedom of Information requests for many months, thus evading its duty to admit misconduct by its own officers.

Following the plethora of Senior Officer corruption stories on North Yorkshire Police recently  I had some hopes that a new Chief Constable would show leadership, integrity, and set the appropriate example of probity and honesty, leading to an improvement in the standards of professionalism and integrity in the force which are currently amongst the worst in the country.

Many readers will have been encouraged by the self agrandising statements of Temporary Chief Constable Tim Madgwick trumpeting his commitment to maintaining higher standards:

• “I stand and fall on the standards I set and expect other people to work to those standards as well.”

Stirring stuff indeed.  Particularly for a candidate standing to be confirmed as Chief Constable by a Police & Crime Commissioner (Julia Mulligan) committed to improving public confidence in the Police following the recent policing scandals in NYP – living up to its very well deserved reputation of being “That particularly dubious Constabulary that merits careful consideration”  (Lord Maginnis of Drumglass) – to which the Savile/Corrigan/Jaconelli failure can now be added.

So I wrote to Chief Constable Madgwick bringing the unlawful failure of his force to respond to a Freedom of Information Request to his attention.

Well, my email and the original request is reproduced below:

—– Original Message —–

From: Tim Hicks

To: tim.madgwick@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk

Cc: Simon.Dennis@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk

Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 10:11 AM

Subject: FW: Information request

Dear Chief Constable Madgwick,

Please see below a Freedom of Information Request submitted on the 28^th of October 2012 which remains unanswered.

Please can you ensure that I receive a response to all of the outstanding Freedom of Information Requests I have submitted and which have been ignored by your Legal Department.

Yours sincerely,

Timothy Hicks

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From: Tim Hicks

Sent: dimanche 28 octobre 2012 13:22

To: ‘informationlaw@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk’

Subject: Information request

Dear Sirs,

Please can you confirm:

1. Did Mr Peter Jaconelli of Scarborough (died 1999) ever come to the attention of North Yorkshire Police, in connection with sexual offences.

2. Did Mr Jimmy Corrigan (deceased) of Scarborough ever come to the attention of North Yorkshire Police in connection with sexual offences.

3. The name and rank of the officers who commanded North Yorkshire Police at Scarborough from the period 1970 – the present.

4. The name and rank of the officers who commanded North Yorkshire Police at Whitby from the period 1970 – the present.

5. The date that North Yorkshire Police had access to computer/paper/card index records of investigations involving other forces.

6. The number of unsolved sexual offences against children in Scarborough from 1970 – present.

7. The number of unsolved sexual offences against children in Whitby from 1970 – present.

8. If any member of North Yorkshire Police has ever been arrested and/or charged in connection with sexual offences against children.

9. If any member of North Yorkshire Police has ever come to the attention of the Police, in connection with sexual offences.

10. Force policy in relation to protecting vulnerable young people at seaside towns in the period 1970 – the present.

I thank you in anticipation of your assistance in this request.

Yours sincerely,

Timothy Hicks.

Clearly, it is completely courteous and on the face of it there is no lawful reason why NYP should not acknowledge it and treat it as a normal FOI request and respond within 20 working days, even if this is to claim an exemption.

I received a response on the 17^th of January, which only addressed questions 3 and 4 above, refusing to disclose the names of the officers commanding Scarborough Police on the grounds of cost.  It did not respond to questions 1 and 2, and 5 – 7.  Although it would have been relatively easy for North Yorkshire Police to respond in full to these questions, NYP in fact disclosed NOTHING.

Well why should that be?

Could it be perhaps be that they have something to hide?

Now I am not privy to the workings/machinations of the highest levels of NYP; nor do I like speculation.  But on this occasion I am going to indulge in some observations:

1.     Answers to Questions 1 and 2 could reveal that Jaconelli and Corrigan were well known to the police and should have been arrested.

2.     NYP could certainly have identified some of the officers commanding in Scarborough without accessing personal files, just by asking at the Police Station.  We already know two of them.  However, answers to Questions 3 and 4 could leave the Officers concerned open to criticism over their failure to break up the Savile/Corrigan/Jaconelli ring because they ignored the evidence apparently available to them.  They could certainly have identified some of the officers commanding in Scarborough without accessing personal files, just by asking at the Police Station.

3.     An answer to Question 5 would reveal the date that North Yorkshire Police would have known from their computer records that Savile had been questioned by other forces over sexual offences thereby telling them instantly that he was a paedophile. This should then have triggered an investigation, particularly following the allegations made to them during their paedophile investigation in 2003.

4.     Answers to Questions 6 and 7 would have revealed the number of unsolved sexual offences, some of them almost certainly committed by members of the Savile/Corrigan/Jaconelli ring, some of whom could still be alive.

5.     Answers to Questions 8 and 9 could have revealed the possible involvement of a Police Officer in the ring. Some readers will be shocked that I could raise this concern.  Well please consider the attached list of recent cases of police officers that have faced proceedings, and consider how many of them are for sexual offences. We know of one former NYP Officer (Charles Littleboy) that has been convicted for this type of offence.

• We must state clearly we do not know if Mr Charles Littleboy ever served with the Police in Scarborough and/or Whitby in the 1980s, and have no reason to link him to the Savile investigation.

6.     An answer to Question 10 could have revealed that either NYP had no policy, or did not follow it.

I would therefore deduce from the stunningly thunderous silence emanating from Newby Wiske Hall that NYP do not want to reveal this information because I have hit a nerve. Could this be because any answer to any of the above questions could result in severe public criticism of NYP and – heaven forbid – senior serving or retired Police Officers being held accountable to the public they serve, by being disciplined for not having done their jobs properly?

Consider the similar public response by West Yorkshire Police who are trying to conceal Savile’s regular Friday morning dining club with nine senior Police Officers.

Although some excellent detective work by investigative-journalist Neil Wilby has identified some of them, we are not allowed to know who these officers are; if some of them were from North Yorkshire Police; or if Savile socialized in a similar and improper way with Officers from Scarborough Police.

Savile has been widely alleged to have manipulated Police Officers by using his charm, status and/or bribery.

The NYP Press Office has been offered the opportunity to comment on the suggestion that “North Yorkshire Police were aware of the Savile, Jaconelli and Corrigan were operating a paedophile vice ring in Scarborough and failed to investigate it because of their celebrity status”.  We have not received any response from them.

So there you are.  For all of his huffing and puffing above, Chief Constable Madgwick has used a legalistic response to evade his duty to order full disclosure of information which is readily available to him.  Under his leadership, North Yorkshire Police have decided to exercise their right to silence. After all, if there is nothing to hide, why will the Force not defend itself against these allegations by giving full and open disclosure?

This is particularly disappointing, given that it may just be possible to re-open and resolve some of the undetected cases referred to above, possibly with the apprehension of other offenders.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, so long as Chief Constable Madgwick maintains his right to silence on behalf of NYP, we will never get to the bottom of this.

One thing is clear. This is not a very impressive performance by the Temporary Chief Constable – and light years away from his public commitment to openness and accountability, quoted above, and also championed by the Police and Crime Commissioner. It also falls far below the standards of professionalism the public expect of their Police.

Nor is the Chief Constable prepared to offer any expression of regret or apology for the failure of his Force over fifty years to take any effective action at all against the paedophile-ring that operated in Scarborough under the auspices of his worship the Mayor and its most famous and wealthy resident, Sir Jimmy Savile OBE, whom NYP evidently thought were too important to have the law enforced upon them.

In my view an essential quality in a Chief Police Officer is a determination to maintain high standards and, in this, Chief Constable Madgwick and I are in agreement, at least on the basis of his public pronouncements.

This includes taking rigorous action against those few members of any organisation that let the side down. However, actions always speak louder than words and the failure of the Chief Constable to reassure the public that his Force serves by responding openly and honestly to this matter. This poses grave questions concerning his suitability for command, in my opinion.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, so long as Chief Constable Madgwick maintains his right to silence on behalf of NYP, we will never get to the bottom of this. This is particularly concerning, given that it may just be possible to re-open and resolve some of the undetected cases referred to above, possibly with the apprehension of other offenders, thereby protecting children from future attacks.

One thing is clear. This is not a very impressive performance by the Temporary Chief Constable – and light years away from his public commitment to openness and accountability, quoted above, and also championed by the Police and Crime Commissioner. It also falls far below the standards of professionalism the public expect of their Chief Officer of Police.

One retired police officer from North Yorkshire Police has commented.

Ex (Acting) Chief Inspector Tom Fox, who commanded policing in Scarborough for some time during Savile’s period of offending is now Councillor Tom Fox, unrepentent Double-Dipper, married to ex-Councillor and fellow Double-Dipper Mrs Ros Fox, recent winners of the The Corruption Busters “Jonathan Aitken Memorial Prize for the Best Broadcast Media ‘LIVE Interview” (for having been caught out lying on BBC Radio York by senior Corruption Buster Tim Thorne) and the Leader of Scarborough Borough Council.

Predictably, his self-serving statement revealed in full here, does not make any personal statement of regret for his failure to apprehend Savile or any member of the Savile/Jaconelli/Corrigan ring. Nor does it mention that, despite knowledge he may or may not have had from his policing days, the same Councillor Fox proposed Savile to be an Honorary Freeman of the Borough, and makes no apology for that either.

Nevertheless, Councillor Fox’s decision to withdraw the Honorary Freeman status from Savile will no doubt be published nationally, giving him excellent personal publicity.

However, we still await a response to Nigel Ward’s penetrating question:

• “Would the Leader confirm or deny that, as a former ranking Police Officer in Scarborough, and as long-serving leading Councillor since that time, he was aware that elements within the Authorities were cognisant of concerns of the gravest nature in respect of the activities of Sir Jimmy Savile, yet nevertheless played a leading role in the lavish civic honours bestowed upon a man now widely reviled as the worst and most degenerate sexual predator in the Borough’s history?”

I wonder why.

NHS BROADMOOR, LEEDS AND STOKE MANDEVILLE INVESTIGATIONS

Real Whitby has contacted the Broadmoor and Leeds investigations and the office of Ms Kate Lampard QC who is overseeing them, We are also in direct contact with Operation Yewtree to assist these investigations with information wherever possible.

OPERATION YEWTREE

If any reader has information they wish 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

indicating they are doing so pursuant to the Real Whitby investigation.