ANOTHER famous name is being investigated by Lancashire Police over historic sex abuse allegations, it has emerged.

Operation Fervant, the probe into alleged misconduct by celebrities or people in positions of trust, has led to a number of inquiries being opened across the county.

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One Lancashire probe is said to centre on a ‘celebrity actor’, with further claims made against care home staff, priests and a teacher accused of abusing a pupil in the mid-1990s.

Lancashire Police has enjoyed mixed results with high-profile sexual abuse cases recently.

Former It’s A Knockout presenter Stuart Hall is currently serving jail sentences totalling 60 months after being convicted in 2013 and 2014 of indecent assaults on underage girls.

But the force came under fire following the acquittal of Coronation Street actor Ken Barlow over sex abuse claims which covered his time as a resident of Sykeside, at Haslingden.

Jane Booth, the independent chairman of the Lancashire Safeguarding Children Board, has given a snapshot of Operation Fervant’s work in Lancashire as part of an update on child sexual exploitation.

In her report, she said that the operation had looked into a number of allegations concerning historic sexual abuse at children’s home establishments located in the county.

She added: “Other on-going cases include historic sexual abuse perpetrated by priests, care home workers and preliminary enquiries into possible offences committed by a celebrity actor and a teacher accused of sexually abusing a pupil in 1997.”

In total, 31 separate investigations have been opened, either using information gleaned from within the county or via referrals through the operation’s central office in South Yorkshire.

The probe was formerly known as Operation Hydrant.

Child abuse experts say that the number of referrals has risen since the national independent inquiry, chaired by New Zealand high court judge Lowell Goddard, came into being.

The findings have come amid calls by the safeguarding board for a child sexual exploitation co-ordinator to be appointed for Lancashire.