Musicians, athletes, actors among 1,400 sex-abuse suspects in U.K.

LONDON — Some 261 celebrities and politicians, including sports, TV and music stars, are being investigated for alleged child sex abuse, British police have revealed.

They are among more than 1,400 men suspected by police of being sex predators, as the Home Secretary warned it is only the “tip of the iceberg.”

The rogues gallery includes 135 TV, film and radio stars, 43 musicians and seven sports figures as well as 76 politicians, the officer in charge of the issue has disclosed.

Chief Const. Simon Bailey said reports of child sex abuse were increasing on a daily basis and he expected police to receive approximately 116,000 allegations before the end of this year. The surge is partly a result of the Jimmy Savile scandal in 2012, and Bailey warned victims will run “in to the thousands.”

Savile, the longtime host of BBC’s Top of the Pops, was accused of child sex abuse but never charged before his death in 2011. Subsequent investigation led police to believe he may have been one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.

Speaking separately, Theresa May, the Home Secretary, told rank-andfile officers that the picture was the “tip of the iceberg.”

Bailey, the head of Norfolk Police and lead on child sex abuse for the National Police Chiefs Council, said the scale of child abuse was “stark.”

“The referrals are increasing on an almost daily basis, so the numbers I refer to today are a snapshot in time,” he said.