THE woman at the helm of the county’s sexual assault referral centre hopes the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal will persuade more victims of similar attacks to come forward locally.

Emma Durmaz, clinical manager and forensic nurse examiner at The Glade at Bransford, near Worcester, said she hoped the investigation into sexual assaults by the late TV presenter had made it easier for victims to come forward in future and know they would be believed.

The centre, which opened in November last year, deals with about 300 rapes and sexual assaults a year across the West Mercia area, including Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Miss Durmaz, who wrote to Jim’ll Fix It herself when she was a child because she wanted to meet the England cricket team, said she hoped the attitudes which had once shielded men such as Savile were now beginning to break down.

“He was a clever man and a lot of the people he assaulted were vulnerable – hospital inpatients and people suffering from mental illness or girls at an approved school,” she said. “Quite clearly they have been believed now. “That is going to be quite cathartic for a lot of people who have carried it with them for years.

“People think now they have been believed, maybe I will be. I hope people now feel they’re able to speak up. I also hope that maybe some of the sexual offenders may think ‘I might get caught’.”

She said the group would support anyone wishing to make a complaint.

“We will believe you,” she added.

“It is really important that people feel they will be believed. “I say ‘I believe you and we’re here to support you and don’t blame yourself because it’s not your fault’. It’s about making sure they go away knowing it’s not their fault.”

The centre, funded by West Mercia Police and the NHS, offers confidential advice, counselling, screening for sexually transmitted infections, forensic medical examination, emergency contraception and pregnancy testing, ongoing long term support and also liaises between the victims of sexual assaults and the police. The free phone number is 0808 1782058.