Carl Beech trial: VIP abuse accuser 'Nick' made 'totally unfounded claims' against military figures and politicians, court hears

Police investigating an accuser's claims that a VIP paedophile ring had operated in Westminster found elements of his story were "totally unfounded"
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Police investigating an accuser's claims that a VIP paedophile ring had operated in Westminster found elements of his story were "totally unfounded and irredeemably contradicted", a court heard.

Carl Beech, known by the pseudonym Nick, went on the run to Sweden when his extremely damaging allegations were proved to be false, jurors were told.

The 51-year-old father, from Gloucester, is on trial at Newcastle Crown Court, where he denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of fraud.

Tony Badenoch QC, prosecuting, said his accusations against powerful figures in the military, politicians such as Lord Brittan and Sir Edward Heath, and Jimmy Savile, were among the "most heinous" that could be made.

His claims, initially made to Wiltshire Police and then the Metropolitan Police, sparked the £2 million Operation Midland and led to elderly suspects such as Lord Brittan, Lord Bramall, who is a former head of the Army, and ex-MP Harvey Proctor having their homes raided.

When that inquiry was ultimately stopped, Northumbria Police were tasked with looking into Beech himself, and his three-bedroom rented property, with his £30,000 Ford Mustang convertible parked outside, was raided.

Mr Badenoch said: "Northumbria Police followed a number of lines of inquiry and found that key elements of the story were totally unfounded, hopelessly compromised and irredeemably contradicted by other testimony.

"Carl Beech knew all of that of course, and ultimately he pursued his only real option as this inquiry moved to the charging phase.

"He absconded and sought to set up life in a different country as a fugitive."

The court heard Beech had claimed, over the course of a number of months and years, that he had witnessed "three child murders, multiple rapes, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and widespread sexual abuse".

One of the allegations revolved around what he described as the murder of a schoolfriend named Scott.

The jury was played an extract from an interview that he did with a Metropolitan Police officer in November 2014.

His claims, initially made to Wiltshire Police and then the Metropolitan Police, sparked the £2 million Operation Midland
PA

During the video clip, Beech, is seen crying as he describes how Scott was killed in front of him when he was run over by a car.

The defendant explained in the interview that he had been warned, by a member of the "paedophile ring" he had come forward to police about, not to speak to Scott.

But he said he continued to talk to Scott because he "did not know how to be nasty to somebody to stop them from being my friend".

He told the officer: "They warned me. I was selfish, I didn't listen to them because I wanted a friend. I didn't understand what the consequences might be."

Mr Badenoch QC told the jury how the story was one example in a "very long list" of falsehoods that Beech invented.

He said that Northumbria Police had approached the defendant's former school teachers and friends to ask them about his attendance record and about a missing person or dead boy named Scott.

The prosecutor told jurors: "The response? There was no such homicide."

Mr Badenoch added that the allegations all concerned young boys, saying: "It is quite impossible to conceive of allegations of a worse kind to be made."

The prosecution described it as an "extraordinary tale", and said he picked his "targets" after conducting internet research.

According to Mr Badenoch, Beech told officers that his army major step-father had introduced him to the high-ranking army generals he would later accuse of abuse.

But the prosecutor said that such an introduction would not have been possible, as his step-father's rank was "very much lower than those he accused".

Of the allegations Beech made against Lord Bramall, the former head of the armed forces, he explained how the army official was surrounded by people tasked with keeping him safe.

Mr Badenoch said of Lord Bramall's day-to-day life: "He travelled by staff car or helicopter to Chelsea Barracks before transit into Whitehall, again by staff car."

The court heard Beech's lies also gave false hope of news to the family of 15-year-old Martin Allen, who disappeared in 1979.

Mr Badenoch said Beech claimed that as a schoolboy he had seen "literally dozens" of powerful men in the paedophile ring, at locations ranging across four counties, the south coast of England, and all over London, and that he was taken out of school one day a week for this to happen.

He added that a Metropolitan Police officer had at the time described the allegations as "credible and true". Beech was given anonymity as a complainant of sexual abuse, and was therefore given the name Nick.

The trial continues.

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