Women who claim Savile abused them 'looking for money', says former headteacher
Women who claim they were abused by Jimmy Savile at a girls’ school were “delinquents” who were “looking for money” by making allegations against the late TV entertainer, their former headteacher has said.
However, Margaret Jones admitted she was “hoodwinked” by Savile, who she allowed to sleep overnight at Duncroft Approved School in the 1970s.
Allegations linked to three former residents of the home were made in 2007 but Surrey Police said they did not speak to ex-workers from the school unless there was evidence that they had witnessed or been told about sexual abuse.
Child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas told the Daily Telegraph this week that the failure to speak to headteacher Miss Jones as part of the investigation was a missed chance to catch Savile while he was alive.
Miss Jones said she had no idea Savile was “a pervert” and that no-one ever reported any abuse to her.
She told the Daily Mail: “They had an opportunity to tell anybody. But it suited them – some of them, not all of them – to wait 30 years. They’re all looking for money… they come out of the woodwork for money. I do object to my school being targeted… wild allegations by well-known delinquents.”
Savile was allegedly allowed to stay overnight at the school and take pupils on unsupervised drives in his Rolls-Royce, where he abused them, according to the Daily Mail.
At the time of the allegations, the school was run by children’s charity Barnardo’s, who told police they had no record of any sexual abuse reported to staff.
Former pupils at the residential school have said they reported Savile’s abuse, only to be dismissed by Miss Jones.
The former headteacher said: “I was hoodwinked by Jimmy Savile. I thought he was a nice man. Not one person ever told me about Jimmy Savile. Nobody told me he was a pervert. I’ve just been talking to one of my [former] staff. We are horrified.”
“If they didn’t tell me about Jimmy Savile, they deserve all they get. They should’ve reported him. They knew if they reported him to me I’d report him to the police. And I have reported people to the police.”
