Operation Yewtree

Geographical locations of the reported offences according to Giving Victims a Voice, a report of the investigations

Operation Yewtree is a police investigation into sexual abuse allegations, predominantly the abuse of children, against the British media personality Jimmy Savile and others. The investigation, led by the Metropolitan Police Service, started in October 2012. After a period of assessment it became a full criminal investigation, involving inquiries into living people, notably other celebrities, as well as Savile.

On 19 October 2012 the Metropolitan Police reported that more than 400 lines of enquiry had been assessed and over 200 potential victims had been identified. By 19 December, eight people had been questioned; the total number of alleged victims was 589, of whom 450 alleged abuse by Savile. The report of the investigations into the activities of Savile himself was published, as Giving Victims a Voice, in January 2013. Operation Yewtree continued as an investigation into others, some but not all linked with Savile.

By October 2015, 19 people had been arrested by Operation Yewtree, six of which led to convictions.

"Yewtree" was chosen from a list of names which are intended to be neutral and unrelated to each particular case, in a system dating back to the 1980s for operations which are started to handle specific crimes, as opposed to more general, pro-active operations with names connected to their intent.

Background

Jimmy Savile in July 2006

Main article: Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal

An ITV documentary, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, researched and presented by former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, was broadcast on 3 October 2012. The programme contained several allegations by women who said that, as teenagers, they had been sexually abused by radio and television personality Jimmy Savile, who had gained access to them through the television programmes he had presented and his charity work. Following the broadcast, many other people came forward to make allegations about Savile's conduct towards young people, including sexual abuse that had taken place on BBC premises and in hospitals to which Savile had access. Operation Yewtree is concerned with allegations of abuse by Savile and others.

Initial assessments

On 4 October 2012, the Metropolitan Police said it would take the national lead in a process of assessing the allegations. The assessment was undertaken by the Serious Case Team of the service's Child Abuse Investigation Command, led by Detective Superintendent David Gray working closely with the BBC. The police said, "Our priority will be to ensure a proportionate and consistent policing response putting the victims at the heart of our enquiries", and that "it is not an investigation at this stage".

The Metropolitan Police announced on 9 October that the inquiry into the allegations would be called Operation Yewtree, and would be undertaken jointly with the NSPCC. The police had formally recorded eight allegations against Savile, but announced they were following 120 lines of inquiry, covering up to 25 victims of abuse, mainly girls aged between 13 and 16. The allegations covered four decades, from 1959 until the 1980s, and were on "a national scale". Commander Peter Spindler, head of specialist crime investigations, said, "At this stage it is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender." Operation Yewtree aimed to report by the end of November; the publication date was later revised to early 2013.

Criminal investigation

The Metropolitan Police launched a criminal investigation on 19 October 2012 as, in addition to the historic allegations of child sex abuse by Savile, there were "lines of inquiry involving living people that require formal investigation". The criminal investigations within Operation Yewtree were led by Detective Chief Superintendent Keith Niven, head of the Metropolitan Police's child abuse investigation command, and by December 2012, 30 officers were involved with the case. The operation follows three strands: allegations against Savile, allegations against Savile and others, and allegations just involving others.

Commander Peter Spindler said: "The public's response to this issue has been astounding. We are dealing with alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale. The profile of this operation has empowered a staggering number of victims to come forward to report the sexual exploitation which occurred during their childhood." He said that: "We are dealing with a major criminal investigation. This is a watershed moment for child abuse investigations and Yewtree will be a landmark investigation."

On 11 December 2012, the Metropolitan Police stated that the investigation of the abuse undertaken by Savile had been completed, and that the report of Operation Yewtree was being prepared for publication early in 2013. In a statement the day after the report's publication, Commander Peter Spindler said that a total of 589 alleged victims of abuse had come forward in the inquiry, of whom 450 alleged abuse by Savile. Of the alleged victims, 82% were female and 80% were children or young people. There were 31 allegations of rape by Savile, across seven police force areas. Commander Spindler said: "Savile's offending peaked in the 70s and what we can show, or will be showing in the New Year, is how he used his position in society across the country—the crimes relate to 17 different police force areas—how he exploited this position to get his sexual gratification."

The investigation into "others" continued after the Savile investigation concluded. In May 2013, The New York Times reported that "at least 69 police officers and staff members" were involved in the operation. A December 2015 freedom of information disclosure revealed that Scotland Yard spent £2.2m a year on Operation Yewtree.

Arrests leading to convictions

Date	Suspect	Background	History	Status
28 October 2012	Gary Glitter	Former glam rock pop star and previously-convicted sex offender	Glitter was questioned and released on bail until 5 June 2014, when he was charged with eight child sex offences dating back to the 1970s. On 5 February 2015 he was found guilty of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault, and one count of having sex with a girl under the age of 13. He was acquitted of the three other counts.	Sentenced on 27 February 2015 to 16 years in prison.
15 November 2012	Dave Lee Travis	Disc jockey, radio and television presenter	Arrested in Bedfordshire on 15 November, Travis was later released on bail. The police said allegations against him were unrelated to Savile, and Travis said his arrest had been on matters not linked to children. Travis was re-arrested on 13 March 2013 on suspicion of further sexual offences. Travis was charged on 15 August 2013 on suspicion of twelve historical sex offences. Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, on 13 February 2014 Travis was found not guilty on twelve counts of sexual assault, with the jury unable to reach a decision on a further two counts. Found not guilty of 12 charges. Travis faced a retrial on two outstanding counts in September 2014 and was found guilty of indecently assaulting a researcher working on TV's Mrs Merton Show in 1995. He was found guilty by a majority verdict of 10-2. Travis was found not guilty on one count, and on the third count the jury were unable to return a verdict.	Sentenced to three months in prison suspended for two years.
6 December 2012	Max Clifford	Publicist	After his release on bail, he denied what he termed the "damaging and totally untrue allegations". On 26 April 2013, Clifford was charged with eleven indecent assaults against girls and young women between 1965 and 1985. On 28 April 2014, Clifford was found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault, acquitted of two charges of indecent assault and the jury was hung on one charge of indecent assault. On 2 May 2014, Clifford was sentenced to eight years imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court. Clifford was rearrested by Operation Yewtree police on 12 March 2015 and charged with an additional count of indecent assault on 3 July 2015.	Incarcerated on 2 May 2014 for eight years in HM Prison Wandsworth. Later moved to HM Prison Littlehey.
28 March 2013	Rolf Harris	Australian-born musician, singer-songwriter, painter, and television personality	In late November 2012 an unnamed man in his 80s was questioned by the Metropolitan Police and his Berkshire house was searched. He was arrested in Berkshire on 28 March 2013. On 19 April this was stated by the BBC and other media sources to be Rolf Harris. On 29 August Harris was charged with 13 separate offences relating to the abuse of minors. On 23 December 2013, Harris was charged with 3 further separate sexual assault charges which are against females aged 19 in 1984, aged seven or eight in 1968 or 1969, and aged 14 in 1975. Harris's trial began on 6 May 2014, involving him being accused of grooming a friend of his daughter's from the age of 13 with evidence being an 'apology letter' allegedly written by Harris to the victim's family. Sasha Wass QC, prosecuting, said "Mr Harris was too famous, too powerful and his reputation made him untouchable". It was reported in July 2014, October 2014 and February 2015, that he was being investigated by police over other alleged sexual offences. On 12 February 2016 the CPS announced that Harris would face seven further indecent assault charges involving seven complainants aged between 12 and 27 and having allegedly occurred from 1971 to 2004.	Found guilty on 30 June 2014. Sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. Incarcerated at HM Prison Bullingdon, before being moved to HM Prison Stafford.
June 2013	Chris Denning	Former Radio 1 disc-jockey and previously-convicted sex offender	Arrested in June 2013 and bailed until September. On 22 May 2014, he was charged with 41 sex offences. Denning pleaded guilty to 29 charges on 5 August 2014. He pleaded guilty to the remaining charges on 14 November 2014. The offences took place from 1967 to 1987 and involve 26 male victims, the youngest having been nine at the time.	Sentenced to 13 years in prison.
17 December 2013	Michael Salmon	Medical doctor at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where Savile allegedly abused some of his victims, and previously-convicted sex offender	Initially charged with assaulting four girls under the age of 16 between 1972 and 1985, including one count of rape, Salmon pleaded not guilty. On 6 February 2015 he was found guilty of nine indecent assaults and two rapes, with victim's ages ranging from 11 to 18 and having occurred between 1973 and 1988. Despite working at Stoke Mandeville at the same time as Savile there is no known link between them. In January 2016, Salmon was charged with 26 child sex offences, including one count of rape.	Sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Other arrests

Date	Suspect	Background	History	Status
1 November 2012	Freddie Starr	Comedian	Arrested four times by February 2014. On 6 May 2014, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that Starr would not be prosecuted. Starr later filed a defamation claim against an accuser who claimed that he groped her in Jimmy Savile's dressing room after appearing on Clunk Click when she was 15 in 1974. The judge dismissed the claim and stated that the accuser had proven that he had groped her.	No prosecution.
11 November 2012	Wilfred De'ath	Author, journalist and former BBC producer	Arrested in Cambridge on suspicion of connected sexual offences; he was later released on bail, denying the claims made against him. No charges were brought against De'ath after the complainant withdrew her statement, confirmed Alison Saunders the chief crown prosecutor for CPS London in March 2013. De'ath was later told that he would not face any charges, and said that the police action had been "overzealous".	No prosecution.
10 December 2012	David Smith	Chauffeur	Smith was the first suspect to be charged in the investigation on 3 April 2013 having been arrested on 10 December 2012. On 28 October 2013, Smith was found dead after failing to appear for a court appearance. Although sometimes described as a "(former) BBC driver," the Corporation could find no evidence that he had ever been employed by them. The coroner found that he had committed suicide.	Deceased.
19 December 2012	Ted Beston	BBC radio producer	Arrested on 19 December. On 14 May 2013, it was reported that Beston would not face prosecution due to insufficient evidence.	No prosecution.
2 January 2013	Jim Davidson	Comedian	Arrested on 2 January 2013. It was later announced that he would face no further action.	No prosecution.
January 2013	Mike Osman	Disc jockey and impressionist	Arrested around the same time as Davidson. He was released without charge.	No prosecution.
5 February 2013	Unnamed 65-year-old man	Unknown	Arrested in South London on 5 February.	No prosecution.
4 April 2013	Unnamed 65-year-old man	Unknown	Arrested in Somerset on 4 April. On 16 October it was confirmed he would not be prosecuted.	No prosecution.
29 October 2013	Paul Gambaccini	American-British radio and television presenter and author	Two unnamed men aged 64 and 74 were arrested on 29 October at separate addresses in South London, on 1 November 2013, and it was reported that BBC broadcaster Paul Gambaccini was the 64-year-old man arrested on suspicion of historical sexual offences as part of Operation Yewtree. Gambaccini was given bail, and his spokesman said that he denied the allegations. On 10 October 2014, it was announced that he would not be prosecuted.	No prosecution.
29 October 2013	Unnamed 74-year-old man	Unknown	Arrested in South London, and given bail, alongside Gambaccini. On 10 October 2014, it was announced that he would not be prosecuted.	No prosecution.
8 April 2014	Walid Moussa	BBC Arabic translator	Arrested in North London on suspicion of sexual offences. On 20 February 2015 he was charged with seven counts of indecent assault on a woman over the age of 16 between July 1983 and July 1984.	Trial ongoing.
13 May 2015	Unnamed 69-year-old man	Unknown	The man, from Milton Keynes, was taken into custody and subsequently bailed.	On bail.
7 October 2015	Unnamed 79-year-old man	Unknown	The man was held in Essex and released on bail until early December.	On bail.

Giving Victims a Voice

The cover of the January 2013 report

The joint report prepared by the Metropolitan Police Service and the NSPCC, Giving Victims a Voice, was published in January 2013, and marked the end of investigations under Operation Yewtree into Savile alone. It reported that sex offences were committed by Savile on 450 people (328 being children at the time), across England and Scotland, with allegations also made in Jersey. The vast majority of offences occurred in his home town of Leeds and in London, his main place of work.

Allegations associating Savile with abuse at Jersey children's home Haut de la Garenne were made in 2008, during Savile's lifetime. He commenced legal action against The Sun newspaper in response; Savile's lawyer said "The reported events are the antithesis of everything Sir James has worked tirelessly to prevent". No action was taken against Savile at this time.

The victims were "mainly not known to each other". His youngest victim was aged 8 years, the oldest 47. Most were aged 13–16, with 73% being under 18 and the majority being minors. The attacks included 18 girls and 10 boys under the age of 10, and were mostly against young girls aged under 16.

The offences were mostly opportunistic, although child grooming was involved in some cases. The first and final known offences were in 1955 and 2009 respectively. The period containing most frequent offending was between 1966 and '76 (when he was aged 40–50), coinciding with his "peak [celebrity] status". The most frequent offending was during 1975 and '76 with each year having 15 offences recorded in it.

Most allegations had not previously been reported to authorities, with victims stating reasons of fear of disbelief or distrust of the judicial system. At least seven allegations of sexual assault made to police during Savile's lifetime were not linked. The CPS said prosecutions "might have been possible" in connection with allegations made to Surrey Police between 2007 and 2009.

Savile's celebrity status meant that he was considered to have been "hiding in plain sight". Operation Yewtree's senior investigating officer, DS David Gray, said Savile used Jim'll Fix It "as a vehicle to gain access to victims".

Approximately 600 people had provided information at the time of the publication of the Savile report, Giving Victims a Voice, of which 450 related to Savile. A total of 214 criminal offences were formally recorded across 28 police forces. The NSPCC described Savile as "one of the most prolific sex offenders in its 129-year history". The BBC restated a "sincere apology to the victims".

Concurrent investigations

Other high-profile arrests

During Operation Yewtree, several other high-profile British public figures were investigated for sexual offences. These included television and radio presenter Stuart Hall, who was convicted of 15 counts of indecent assault, ITV Granada weatherman Fred Talbot who was found guilty of two sexual offences and sentenced to five years imprisonment for assaulting two schoolboys, Coronation Street actors William Roache and Michael Le Vell, were both separately found not guilty of all charges made against them, DJ Neil Fox, who was acquitted of several charges, and DJ and friend of Savile, Ray Teret, was found guilty of seven rapes and eleven indecent assaults was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. An attorney for 169 of Savile's victims stated that Teret's guilty verdicts represent "the closest the victims of Jimmy Savile will get to a conviction against their attacker". Comedian Jimmy Tarbuck was arrested by North Yorkshire Police after an Operation Yewtree file was passed to them concerning a claim he sexually abused a young boy in the 1970s, after eleven months on bail he was released without charge.

Although these allegations, investigations and prosecutions were not directly connected to Operation Yewtree, they were linked in public imagination. In particular, Roache's defence argued that Operation Yewtree had created an atmosphere in which allegations of sexual abuse against celebrities were more likely to be taken to prosecution, while several other commentators speculated that the decision in particular to prosecute Roache and Le Vell may have been influenced by the high profile of Yewtree. These cases, combined with Operation Yewtree, were credited for an increase in the reporting of sexual offences during 2013.

Cliff Richard

Main article: Cliff Richard § 2014 property search and sexual assault allegations

See also: BBC controversies § August 2014: Coverage of Cliff Richard's property search

On 14 August 2014, the police searched singer Cliff Richard's home in Berkshire in relation to an alleged historic sex offence in Sheffield. Richard said the allegation was "completely false" and complained that the press appeared to have been given advance notice that his home in Berkshire was to be searched – whereas he had not been. On 23 August, Richard voluntarily met members of South Yorkshire Police by appointment. He was not arrested or charged. It later emerged that the investigation was prompted when a man contacted Exposure documentary presenter Mark Williams-Thomas, who then put him in touch with Operation Yewtree police in 2013. Because the alleged assault occurred in Sheffield, the Metropolitan Police passed the information to South Yorkshire Police.

The leak to the media of the property search of Richard's home reportedly came from within Operation Yewtree, although David Crompton, the chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, said he could not be certain that the leak originated from there. The investigation into the allegation against Richard continued and increased over the next year, with more than one allegation investigated. Richard subsequently released a statement in February 2015 strenuously denying what he described as "absurd and untrue allegations". In a letter to Keith Vaz of the Home Affairs Committee, Crompton said of the investigation: "It would be premature and potentially misleading to predict a likely date when it will be concluded, however, we are progressing as swiftly as possible". In June 2015 it was reported by the Sheffield Telegraph that one of Richard's accusers had been told, by South Yorkshire Police, that the investigation into his allegation against Richard had been dropped. The other two allegations continue to be investigated.

Operation Hydrant

In response to a large increase of victims coming forward in the summer of 2014 in the wake of the Savile scandal, Operation Hydrant, a new operation into historic child sex abuse allegations was launched by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC). As of 20 May 2015, 1433 suspects - including 261 of "public prominence" (135 from TV, film or radio) and 666 from institutions (including 154 from schools, 75 from children's homes, 40 from religious institutions and 14 medical establishments) - have been identified. Operation Hydrant is not responsible for conducting independent investigations, it gathers information from other inquiries, including Operation Yewtree.

Operation Ravine

A previous investigation into the Walton Hop disco, Operation Arundel, resulted in the convictions of Chris Denning and music mogul Jonathan King for child sex offences in the early 2000s. Merseyside Police subsequently carried out an independent review of Operation Arundel in January 2014 after related materials had been given to Operation Yewtree. On 10 September 2015, three men were arrested as part of Operation Ravine, including Jonathan King, who had previously been convicted of sex offenses as a result of the original Operation Arundel investigation.

Reactions and analysis

Some have labelled Operation Yewtree a "witch-hunt", including director Terry Gilliam, TV presenter Chris Tarrant, and newspaper tycoon Eddy Shah. Joan Smith of The Guardian stated that the conviction of Max Clifford vindicated the operation, while Martin Evans of The Daily Telegraph said that despite several high profile failures, Rolf Harris' conviction vindicated it. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe denied claims of a witch-hunt, commenting that the alternative would be to ignore allegations. Paul Gambaccini, who was arrested and bailed repeatedly for a year before being told he would face no further action, testified before the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee on 3 March 2015. He told MPs he was the victim of a witch-hunt and that he was used as human "fly paper" to encourage other people to come forward and make allegations against him. Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders denied the allegations.

In an article for The Spectator, Rod Liddle criticised the handling of these cases by police, especially in the case of Freddie Starr, who was arrested four times and bailed nine times before being told he would not be charged, claiming: "the way the police have conducted the process is hugely unfair". In the aftermath of Cliff Richard's August 2014 property search, human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson wrote in The Independent that the long delays before announcing charges amounted to "outrageous treatment", adding: "This has been one of the most intolerable features of other high-profile arrests for 'historic' offences, namely the inability of police and prosecutors to deliver Magna Carta’s truly historic promise that justice will not be delayed." After others, including Jim Davidson and Paul Gambaccini, were left on bail for many months before being told they would not face charges, Home Secretary Theresa May proposed that bail time be limited to 28 days.

At a Labour Party conference in July 2014, comedian and friend of Gambaccini, Stephen Fry criticised the operation, pointing out that fewer than half of those accused at the time had been found guilty, and called for tougher laws to prevent false sex abuse allegations. MP Nigel Evans, who was cleared of unrelated sexual assault charges, has called for individuals to receive anonymity until charged.

Rosie Millard criticized the operation after Dave Lee Travis was convicted on one count of indecent assault for groping a woman's breast for 15 seconds in 1995, saying: "one has to ask whether the Operation Yewtree fervour, fuelled no doubt by the frustration that one of Britain’s sickest and most evil perverts died before he could come to justice, has simply gone a bit crazy. If we started jailing every man who has ever squeezed a breast, there would be no time for any other sort of case in our courts, and our prisons would be the size of a small city." Carole Malone claimed the case against Travis was a "witch-hunt", adding "if police spent more of their limited time and resources hunting dangerous sex criminals – and less on celebrity gropers – the world would be a safer place."

In a November 2015 debate organized by the NSPCC on whether investigations into historic sexual abuse had turned into "media witch-hunts", former Metropolitan Police commander Peter Spindler said that police "got some things wrong" and that they "didn't have sufficient resources in place." According to The Guardian, the failed Metropolitan Police investigation, Operation Midland, was "forged by the experience of the Jimmy Savile scandal, and the subsequent Operation Yewtree inquiry"; in particular, the use of a high-profile press conference to get additional victims to come forward to corroborate each other’s stories. In February 2016, the late Irish Supreme Court Judge Adrian Hardiman criticised the methods used by Operation Yewtree, particularly the treatment of Paul Gambaccini, as well as the investigations of Cliff Richard and Midland cases of Leon Brittan and Edwin Bramall, for what he described as the radical undermining of the presumption of innocence.

See also

• BBC sexual abuse cases
• North Wales child abuse scandal
• Elm Guest House child abuse scandal

External links

• "Jimmy Savile abuse cases: the detailed data", statistics and figures of the report from The Guardian