Carl Beech: 'Poor judgement' caused police failures in probe into VIP paedophile ring claims, report finds

Carl Beech in a police interview
PA
Katy Clifton4 October 2019
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The main cause of the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into claims of a VIP paedophile ring in Westminster was “poor judgment and a failure to accurately evaluate known facts”, a report has said.

A review of Scotland Yard’s botched VIP sex abuse probe into allegations made by Carl Beech was conducted by former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques and published on Friday.

Beech, formerly known as Nick, accused former politicians and army and security chiefs of sadistic sexual abuse up to four decades ago. He also said he had seen boys being murdered.

Operation Midland, a 16-month police inquiry that cost £2.5 million, investigated Beech's fictitious claims.

It led to the homes of D-Day veteran Lord Bramall; Lady Diana Brittan, the widow of former home secretary Leon Brittan; and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor being raided.

Beech was jailed for his lies about a murderous paedophile ring
PA

The inquiry ended in 2016 without a single arrest.

Beech is serving an 18-year jail term for fabricating a series of claims of rape, torture and murder by innocent, well-known names from the military, security services and politics.

In the report published on Friday, Sir Richard said: “The principal cause of the many failures in this investigation was poor judgment and a failure to accurately evaluate known facts and to react to them. A major contributing factor was the culture that ‘victims’ must be believed.”

In response to the report, Scotland Yard's Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House said he is "deeply, deeply sorry for the mistakes that were made and the ongoing pain these have caused".

However, he said the force does not agree with everything written in the report.

The officer in charge of Operation Midland Steve Rodhouse has apologised for the "distress" caused as a result, saying the report shows there are "clearly lessons to be learned for future investigations".

He said: "In hindsight I can see I did not ensure that we got the balance right" between a "determination to maintain confidence" and the police's "duty to robustly test the allegations being made".

Sir Richard's report said the “most significant error” in the investigation into allegations made by Beech was “the decision to apply for search warrants coupled with formulating inaccurate statements” which were put before a district judge.

“But for that decision, this investigation may well have been completed without the dreadful adverse consequences I have described,” the report said.

Carl Beech falsely claimed that an Australian boy called Scott had been murdered
PA

Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen said: “Mistakes were made in Operation Midland and we have apologised for those. We apologise for them again today.

“However, we do not agree with everything Sir Richard wrote in his report or indeed all of his recent statements regarding further investigations into the actions of officers.”

Downing Street has since said it is vital the public receives independent assurances that the force has learnt lessons identified in the review.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was "crucial" that the Met learned from its mistakes, and welcomed the decision to release a fuller version of the report.

He added: "Londoners must have full confidence in the police and it's right the Met is transparent about the serious failings highlighted in the report.

"I'm clear that officers must investigate when serious allegations of this nature are made, and it's hugely important victims of rape and sexual assault continue to feel confident in coming forward to report crimes - but in this case the Met has accepted serious mistakes were made.

"It's crucial that the Met learns from those mistakes and that's why, following discussions with the Commissioner, I welcome the decision to refer this matter to the HMICFRS in order to fully reassure Londoners that lessons have been learnt."

Meanwhile, Mr Proctor called for Scotland Yard's commissioner Cressida Dick to "consider her position", saying: "She showed no leadership or professional ability to insist on investigation into Beech himself."

He accused her of failing to amend previously inaccurate statements on the credibility of Beech's allegations, adding: "Her inaction was irresponsible and immoral and she should now consider her position."

While Daniel Janner, the son of the late Labour MP Lord Janner who was one of Beech's victims, accused deputy Labour leader Tom Watson - who raised the matter in Parliament after speaking to Beech - of being "partially responsible".

Daniel Janner QC, the son of the late Labour peer Lord Janner
PA

Mr Janner claimed he "applied pressure on the police and should hang his head in shame and resign".

Mr Watson said the review contained "multiple inaccuracies" about him and said it did not make clear letters from him were received by police after they had already interviewed Lord Brittan.

In a statement he said it "cannot be argued that it was pressure from me that led to Lord Brittan being interviewed".

He added: "I have always said that it wasn't my place to judge whether sexual abuse allegations were true or false - that was for the police."

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