A NORTH Yorkshire Police Detective Sergeant is under investigation for misconduct over how allegations against Jimmy Savile were handled by the force.

A new independent investigation has been launched by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into how North Yorkshire Police handled accusations made against Savile by a teenage girl in 2002, and how the force treated disclosures made by a serving prisoner against former Scarborough town mayor Peter Jaconelli in December 2008 and again in January 2009.

The serving Detective Sergeant has been served with a misconduct notice, and has been interviewed by an IPCC investigator, the watchdog said.

IPCC deputy chair Sarah Green said: "The investigation is examining whether the North Yorkshire Police response to the disclosures was in accordance with national and force policies on crime recording, intelligence handling and dealing with victims of sexual abuse."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: "To ensure maximum transparency in the way North Yorkshire Police dealt with information and disclosures regarding alleged historic sexual abuse in Scarborough, North Yorkshire Police referred itself to the IPCC and is fully co-operating with their ongoing independent investigation.

"In respect of the matters which were referred back to North Yorkshire Police by the IPCC, these are currently being investigated and a decision will be made in due course on how to deal with those matters. While these enquiries are active it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage."

In April, the force referred itself to the IPCC over how it responded to allegations it received more than ten years previously about Savile, who died in 2011, and Jaconelli, who died in 1999.

That investigation looked at whether any information the force held on record about Savile or his known associates was properly and comprehensively disclosed to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) when it was asked to do so in December 2012, and again by the IPCC in May last year.

The IPCC spokesman said an assessment of the details had taken place, and those matters "had been sent back to the force to deal with".

North Yorkshire Police is among several forces under investigation by the IPCC in connection with Savile, with a former Inspector from West Yorkshire Police interviewed under criminal caution, two officers from Sussex Police served with gross misconduct notices, two more with misconduct, and a former Detective Inspector from Surrey Police also currently under investigation by the IPCC.