Operation Yewtree

Operation Yewtree was a British police investigation into the sexual abuse, predominantly the abuse of children, committed by multiple media personalities. The investigation, led by the Metropolitan Police, started amid the exposure of Jimmy Savile as a pedophile 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, who had died the previous year.
The report of the investigations into Savile himself was published, as Giving Victims a Voice, in January 2013. In June 2014, investigations into Savile's activities at 28 NHS hospitals concluded that he had sexually assaulted staff and patients aged between 5 and 75 over several decades. 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; seven of these arrests, including Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter and Max Clifford, led to convictions. The "Yewtree effect" has been credited for an increase in the number of reported sex crimes, while the operation also sparked [|a debate] on police procedure and rights of those who were later cleared of wrongdoing, such as Cliff Richard.

Background

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, almost a year after Savile's death. 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.

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

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, it stated that it was pursuing over 400 separate lines of inquiry based on evidence of 200 witnesses via 14 police forces across the UK. On 25 October, the police reported that the number of possible victims was "fast approaching 300". It was also reported that police were looking at allegations that three doctors in hospitals with which Savile had been associated had been involved in the abuse of young people in their care.
The criminal investigations within Operation Yewtree were led by Detective Chief Inspector Michael Orchard as the Senior Investigating Officer and overseen by 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. Noting that the operation was "dealing with alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale" and that it "empowered a staggering number of victims to come forward to report the sexual exploitation which occurred during their childhood", Commander Peter Spindler 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."
The operation followed three strands: allegations against Savile, allegations against Savile and others, and allegations just involving others. On 11 December, the Metropolitan Police stated that the investigation of the abuse undertaken by Savile had been completed and the report into his alleged offending, Giving Victims a Voice, was released in January 2013. 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... will be showing... is how he used his position in society... to get his sexual gratification." The operation had involved 30 police officers, and its cost so far was estimated at £2 million.
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 and that many of the suspects were celebrities. The operation passed files to South Yorkshire Police in the investigation of Cliff Richard, and passed files to North Yorkshire Police in the investigation of Jimmy Tarbuck. Neither case resulted in charges. In June 2016, after child abuse allegations regarding Clement Freud were made public, it was reported that Operation Yewtree had been passed information about Freud in 2012 when two alleged victims made accusations to the NSPCC.
In late 2015, Operation Yewtree was folded into Operation Winter Key, the Met's component of Operation Hydrant. A December 2015 freedom of information disclosure revealed that Scotland Yard had spent £2.2m a year on Operation Yewtree.

Arrests leading to convictions

Date	Suspect	Image	Background	History	Sentence
	Paul Gadd		Former glam rock singer and previously convicted sex offender	Gadd 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, Gadd was convicted 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. Gadd was released on licence in February 2023, but was recalled to prison in March of that year for breaching his licence conditions.
15 November 2012	David Patrick Griffin		Disc jockey, radio and television presenter	Arrested in Bedfordshire on 15 November, Griffin was later released on bail. The police said allegations against him were unrelated to Savile, and Griffin said his arrest had been on matters not linked to children. Griffin was re-arrested on 13 March 2013 on suspicion of further sexual offences. Griffin was charged on 15 August 2013 on suspicion of twelve historical sex offences. Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, on 13 February 2014 Griffin was found not guilty on twelve counts of sexual assault, with the jury unable to reach a decision on a further two counts. Griffin faced a retrial on the two outstanding counts in September 2014 and also faced a new charge of indecently assaulting a researcher working on TV's Mrs Merton Show in 1995. He was convicted of this charge. Griffin was acquitted 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 convicted of eight charges of indecent assault, acquitted of two charges of indecent assault and the jury was hung on one charge of indecent assault. Clifford was rearrested by Operation Yewtree police on 12 March 2015 and charged with an additional count of indecent assault on 3 July 2015. He was cleared by a jury of the charge on 7 July 2016.	Sentenced to eight years' imprisonment on 2 May 2014 in HM Prison Wandsworth. Later moved to HM Prison Littlehey in June 2014. Clifford died from a cardiac arrest in December 2017 after collapsing in his prison cell.
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". He was found guilty on all twelve counts on 30 June 2014. 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. On 8 February 2017, Harris was cleared of three charges. The judge discharged the jury from deliberating on the further four counts of which he was accused. After facing a retrial in May, the jury were unable to reach verdicts and prosecutors announced that they would not pursue another retrial.	Sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on 4 July 2014. Incarcerated at HM Prison Bullingdon, before being moved to HM Prison Stafford. Released from prison on 19 May 2017. Harris died on 10 May 2023.
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. Denning was later convicted of additional offences as part of Operation Ravine.	Sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2014. and an additional 13 years in 2016. Denning died on 24 June 2022 from diabetes at Bedford Hospital, whilst still serving his sentence.
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 victims' 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. On 12 December 2016, Salmon was convicted of an additional 14 charges.	Sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2015 and an additional four years in 2016. Salmon died from sepsis in hospital in 2018, while in prison custody.
13 May 2015	Geoffrey Wheeler		BBC employee	In September 2016, Wheeler was charged with five counts of indecent assault. He pleaded not guilty and his trial at Southwark Crown Court began in March 2017. On 3 April 2017, Wheeler was convicted on one count of indecent assault and cleared of four other charges.	Sentenced to 50 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £150 in restitution to the victim and £500 towards the prosecution's costs.