A senior police officer in charge of the Jimmy Savile investigation has warned of more arrests to come as he disclosed that the late BBC presenter had been accused of 31 rapes in seven different areas of the country.
Revealing the scale of the investigation, Commander Peter Spindler said 450 individuals had made allegations against the former BBC celebrity, mostly of sexual assault. It is understood that 139 individuals made allegations against others including celebrities and people in positions of power.
The scoping exercise into the scale and nature of allegations against Savile had been completed, Spindler said, but police activity against other alleged abusers was still continuing.
"Our officers will continue to investigate allegations made against those who potentially can be brought to justice. More arrests nationally will be forthcoming," he said. "Our response should send a clear warning to anyone today now in a position of power and influence who abuse their status to sexually exploit children and young people: victims will be listened to and robust action taken."
Officers are still collating the data from their inquiry into the activities of Savile over several decades, but the 10-week investigation has uncovered sexual abuse allegations on an unprecedented scale.
Peter Watt, director of the NSPCC, children's charity, said the scale of the child abuse allegations uncovered had "left a deep scar on the consciousness of the country".
Watt added: "We must do all we can to ensure this never happens again by listening to children, taking them seriously and taking action to protect them. Sadly, Savile's victims had to wait decades for help. We have a historic opportunity to learn from the past and make a difference to how we protect children today."
The joint Metropolitan police/NSPCC report on Savile is due to be published in full in the new year.
Spindler said 82% of the alleged victims who had come forward were women. About 80% of those who contacted police reported alleged assaults that took place while they were children or adolescents.
Seven men – including singer Gary Glitter, comedian Freddie Starr, DJ Dave Lee Travis, BBC producer Wilfred De'ath and publicist Max Clifford – have been questioned by the Savile inquiry team, Operation Yewtree. All seven deny wrongdoing.
Spindler said its officers had also assisted in the arrest of three other individuals elsewhere in the country. It is understood these include the BBC Radio 5 Live reporter Stuart Hall, who was arrested by Lancashire police and charged last week with three counts of indecent assault dating back nearly 40 years.
Spindler said the scale of the investigation and the number of victims who had come forward had given officers the opportunity to provide as clear an overview as possible of Savile's activities over several decades. Operation Yewtree has recorded 199 crimes in 17 forces in which Savile is the suspect.
The inquiry had given " a voice to those who had come forward", said Spindler, and it would help "shape future child protection safeguards".
"The report is based on information provided from the hundreds of victims who have come forward since early October," said Spindler. "These levels of reporting of sexual abuse against a single individual are unprecedented in the UK and 12 other inquiries or related reviews have been launched since the television broadcast on 4 October [in an ITV documentary] in which five women recounted being abused by Savile."
As a result of the massive publicity about the Savile investigation and the questioning of seven individuals in relation to the linked inquiry into historic child abuse, reporting of child exploitation, rape and sexual assaults had significantly increased, to the police and to other agencies, Spindler said.
He said there had been a fourfold increase in reports to the Metropolitan police's child abuse investigation teams. In the month before the launch of Operation Yewtree, the teams received 55 reports of historic rape and serious sexual offences. In November, the month following the revelations about Savile, reporting rose to 299 incidents. Operation Sapphire, the Met's rape investigation command, received a 100% increase in reported cases in October and November in comparison with 2011 figures, according to Spindler. This spike goes against the general trend of a 15% reduction in rape reporting year on year. In Greater London, 1,444 rape reports were made from April to the end of September, a 15% fall on 2011 figures.
The NSPCC, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre also experienced similar increases in reporting, Spindler said.