Savile victim is paid £3,000 – while lawyers get £16,000
ONE of the first victims to receive an NHS payout after being sexually assaulted by Jimmy Savile has spoken out against the ‘derisory and insulting’ amount he received.
Steve Ashton, 50, was awarded just £3,125 after a two-year legal battle.
Mr Ashton, who was repeatedly abused by the late DJ from the age of ten, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I would have got more for whiplash. It makes you wonder how many more of Savile’s victims have been fobbed off with such a derisory amount.’
Mr Ashton said his case was not about the money, but he felt the figure was a snub to all victims. ‘What is this going to show to other people in this situation?’ he asked.
‘Do they want to go through years of absolute hell for such an amount? Hundreds of people who have yet to come forward will think, “I’m not having my life made into an open book for such a small amount.” It’s a disgrace. ‘No money can make up for Savile’s effect on my life. But there should be some recognition from the authorities of the damage done.’ Mr Ashton added that his payout, which had been contested by the NHS Charitable Trust, ‘is probably one day’s work for the law firm that represented me’. He added: ‘You hear of celebrities receiving £50,000 after having their phones hacked, but how does that compare with being sexually molested as a ten-year-old boy again and again?
‘I’ve been going through this for 40 years and I still feel Savile laughing at me.’
Mr Ashton’s award was calculated using a compensation ‘tariff’, which sets payouts at between £1,500 for indecent assault over clothing to £40,000 for rape. Victims are entitled to more if they can prove lasting psychiatric damage or repeated abuse.
The compensation scheme, set up jointly by Savile’s estate, the BBC, the NHS, children’s charity Barnardos and lawyers acting for the victims, was finally approved by the Court of Appeal three months ago.
Payments capped at £60,000 have been awarded to more than 200 people who applied. Each claim triggers payments of up to £16,000 to lawyers.
‘My law firm was very caring, but they will come out of this far wealthier and happier than I did,’ Mr Ashton said. He added that he was advised he might be able to secure more by continuing his fight in the High Court, but decided not to as success was not guaranteed.
Savile befriended Mr Ashton at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where the victim’s mother Pamela worked as a spinal injuries researcher. The abuse happened in the Porter’s Lodge and in Savile’s private room at the hospital. Mr Ashton recalled: ‘He used to say, “This is our secret.”
‘If everywhere was busy he would take me to the mortuary. He once pointed at the fridges and said, “If you’re a naughty boy for Jimmy, this is where you’ll end up”.’