He used his unlimited access on the wards to recruit the young women for his private parties where he installed himself as DJ
Vile Jimmy Savile preyed on vulnerable patients at all-girl discos he ran at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, it emerged last night.
The sexual predator used his unlimited access on the wards to recruit the young women for his private parties where he exclusively installed himself as DJ.
Dressed up as “therapeutic entertainment”, his discos in the 70s, which Savile insisted on making, “lasses only” – gave him the opportunity to mingle with unsuspecting victims, away from staff.
Fears of “systematic abuse” at the dance nights will now add pressure on the Department of Health’s probe into how and why Savile was appointed to a leading role at the high security psychiatric hospital.
Last night a source said: “Savile did whatever he wanted at Broadmoor and nobody could stop him.”
As accusations against the shamed star last night continued to mount, the Daily Mirror can also reveal Savile arranged for 60 patients, including convicted murderers, to be granted early release.
But for the patients who remained, Savile used his trusted status at the hospital in Crowthorne, Berks, to organise day trips for patients to the Queen’s back garden at Windsor Great Park and aboard a luxury boat on the Thames.
He also invited bands into the hospital grounds, then home to patients including Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and gangland boss Ronnie Kray, to stage exclusive concerts.
A former employee at Broadmoor, who knew Savile but asked not to be named, said: “He had access to all areas.
“He went where he wanted and spoke to whoever he wanted to. He spoke to all the patients. He would just walk up and have a chat. He was always there.”
Savile’s influence was so powerful, the shamed star was allowed to run regular parties for female patients with help from the Friends of Broadmoor charity.
A nurse working at the hospital at the time of the disco in 1970 said after the first party: “The discotheque provides entertainment and a therapeutic atmosphere and is much enjoyed.”
Savile, who owned nightclubs Maison Royale and Le Cardinal in Bournemouth in the 70s, was the DJ at the launch event and subsequent discos.
He would play records and mingle with female patients, housed in two blocks at the hospital.
In 1982 Savile even organised a boat party for patients starting at the wealthy village of Wargrave for a day trip along the Thames.
Security fears at the time were shrugged off by staff, who said nurses had volunteered to join the patients.
In another treat for patients at Broadmoor, which stopped housing women in 2007, he held a picnic at Windsor Great Park, owned by the Crown.
He also staged a rock concert at Broadmoor headlined by pop band Roxon Roadshow in 1982.
The Jim’ll Fix It star, who had a flat in the grounds, volunteered at the hospital for 20 years before he was made head of a task force to plug a £20million deficit in 1988.
The DJ was considered by the Department of Health as the ideal person to fix the hospital’s finances and advise on welfare.
After taking over in the position, Savile organised for 60 patients to be released to less secure facilities, claiming they had been cured.
Savile said of Broadmoor in January 1989: “There’s a marvellous atmosphere there and some of them have been in a long time.
“At some stage in their unfortunate lives they have contracted a form of violent behaviour. That has now been rectified.”
The Department of Health said at the time in a statement: “It is fair to say Jimmy Savile can take a lot of credit for this.”
Conservative John Redwood, MP for Wokingham when patients were released, said: “If it is not the case there was a proper professional who approved this and Jimmy Savile had too much influence over this decision, that is an absolute scandal.
