Met inquiry after Sir Jimmy abuse claims surface in Yorkshire (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Met inquiry after Sir Jimmy abuse claims surface in Yorkshire

7:00am Saturday 6th October 2012 in News By Stuart Minting

A RETIRED hospital nurse has told how she watched Sir Jimmy Savile sexually assault a young patient recovering from brain surgery.

June Thornton has called for the late television presenter to be stripped of his knighthood, describing him as obnoxious and evil.

The Metropolitan Police said they will lead an investigation into Sir Jimmy after more than 40 people, including a man, came forward with allegations he had abused them, following an ITV documentary.

Mrs Thornton, a former nurse at York Hospital, was recovering from back surgery at Leeds General Infirmary, in 1972 – where the entertainer often volunteered as a porter – and was in a four-bed bay in the Brotherton wing.

The 80-year-old who lives near York, said Savile, who was a Radio One DJ and Top Of The Pops presenter at the time, targeted a young woman sitting in a chair, who was unable to resist after undergoing neurosurgery.

She said: “I can still remember seeing exactly what he did. He just helped himself to her. He rubbed his hands over her chest and further down her front.

“There is no doubt whatsoever that it was Jimmy Savile and that he molested that woman.”

Mrs Thornton said she reported the attack to a nurse, but nothing was done. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I remember saying, ‘Don’t let that man anywhere near me. If he does, I will scream the place down’.”

Mrs Thornton said she told her husband what had happened when he visited her that evening, and her family had always been aware of the incident.

“Whenever he [Savile] came on the telly after that, we would have to turn it over. He was an obnoxious person. He was evil and I hope he is in hell. He should be stripped of his knighthood.”

Another North Yorkshire woman has told how Sir Jimmy attacked her when she was 16 at the Leeds General Infirmary, in 1973, as she was lying strapped to a hospital trolley following a spinal operation.

The woman, whose named has been withheld, said the TV star was volunteering as a porter when he “inappropriately touched” her on her chest in a lift as he was wheeling her from the operating theatre to her bed.

“I was crying after having this procedure because I was in pain,”

she said. “He bent down and I thought he was giving me a reassuring cuddle, but he was inappropriate; he inappropriately touched my chest.

“I felt too frightened to report it because everyone thought he was a saint. This was somebody who was like having your dad around. He was a public figure.”

A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals said: “We don’t have any record of official complaints about Sir Jimmy Savile’s behaviour during the time he worked as a volunteer porter at the Leeds General Infirmary.

“Any evidence about alleged criminal acts should be referred to the police.”