Twenty current BBC staff facing internal allegations of sexual misconduct following Jimmy Savile revelations

Twenty current BBC staff are facing internal allegations of sexual misconduct following the Jimmy Savile revelations, the corporation said today.

The BBC, Savile’s estate and five other institutions including Stoke Mandeville hospital have also been informed that they face legal action from 43 victims seeking damages for alleged sexual abuse.

The claimants include a woman who was eight years when she claimed that she was molested by Savile when she was recovering from surgery at Stoke Mandeville.

Slater and Gordon, which is acting for 36 people who were aged from eight to 23 when they were abused, has sent letters before action to the BBC, Leeds General Infirmary, Stoke Mandeville and Broadmoor hospitals, and the executors of Savile’s estate.

Another law firm Pannone is acting on behalf of seven potential victims and has sent letters of claim to Savile’s estate. One claim has also been made against the BBC.

Mark Thompson, the former BBC Director-General, who was told about Newsnight journalists’ concerns over the scrapping of the Savile expose last year, faced further questions about his response.

Mr Thompson, who is due to become chief executive of The New York Times next week, told the paper that he had been assured that the report had been dropped for journalistic reasons.

“I wasn’t told any specific lines of inquiry and certainly not anything related to the BBC,” he said. “It didn’t occur to me that there was a contemporary corporate interest to defend. You can say it’s a lack of imagination.”