WITCH-HUNT WHITEWASH
Met Police and Labour’s Tom Watson in the dock as VIP paedo liar Carl Beech faces prison
MET officers who fell for Carl Beech’s lies about a murderous VIP paedophile ring were yesterday accused of incompetence and astonishing gullibility.
Beech, whose fantasies triggered a multi-million pound Scotland Yard inquiry that smeared innocent public figures, was yesterday found guilty of perverting justice.
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His victims and their families blasted the Met’s botched Operation Midland — described by one ex- detective as a “total cock-up”.
Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson was also accused of fuelling a witch-hunt by making Parliamentary speeches to bolster Beech’s lurid accusations.
Ex-MP Harvey Proctor, 72, whose house was raided over Beech’s claims he murdered a boy, said: “Tom Watson gave oxygen to his claims. He put pressure on the police to act on Beech’s fantasies.
“It’s time for him to apologise to me and everyone named in this truly disgraceful chapter in the history of British policing.
“It is time for the torchlight to take a closer look at Mr Watson.”
Mr Proctor also blasted the police and Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Met Commissioner who launched Operation Midland.
WATSON 'CHIEF PAEDO-FINDER GENERAL'
He said: “The Metropolitan Police were lapdogs to Mr Watson’s crude dog whistle. The Met should also apologise for squandering millions with incompetence and negligence.”
Also wrongly accused was Labour peer Lord Janner, who died in 2015. His son Daniel Janner QC said: “Tom Watson should resign.
“He appointed himself Britain's chief paedo-finder general and created a moral panic.”
Convicted paedophile Beech, 51, was yesterday found guilty at Newcastle crown court of perverting justice. He was also found guilty of fraud over compensation claims relating to abuse allegations.
The former nurse and social services inspector will be sentenced on Friday.
Vicar’s son Beech, father of a teenage son, dreamed up his tales of rape, torture and murder when the Jimmy Savile scandal broke.
At the time, in late 2012, his 20-year marriage had ended and he was deeply in debt.
He told a counsellor he had been abused as a child by Savile — and logged a claim for compensation.
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Beech was interviewed but officers found his story unconvincing.
So he invented new allegations — claiming he was one of many young victims of a secret VIP paedophile ring.
Beech said these men kidnapped and raped boys in the 1970s and 80s. He said three boys were murdered — one victim being deliberately run over in the street.
Among the alleged abusers were prominent Tories, former PM Edward Heath, ex-Home Secretary Leon Brittan and MP Proctor.
Beech also named former Army chief Field Marshal Lord Bramall, ex-MI6 head Sir Maurice Oldfield and ex-MI5 chief Sir Michael Hanley. He claimed he was passed on to the ring by stepfather Raymond Beech, the first to abuse him.
Beech started writing an internet blog about his “experiences”. They were picked up by online journalists — and brought to the attentions of Watson.
In 2014 Watson met Beech, whose allegations became wilder — including a claim Proctor tied a boy to a table, raped him and then stabbed him to death.
MET MISSED GAPING HOLES
A Sunday newspaper published his allegations using the pseudonym “Nick.”
In October 2014 Beech was interviewed by the Met and Operation Midland was a launched. Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald publicly described “Nick's” claims as “credible and true” — despite the fact they had not been fully investigated.
Officers raided the homes of Brittan, who was to die before his name was cleared, Proctor and Lord Bramall. Twenty officers worked full-time for 16 months on the case. They took 370 witness statements, launched 1,700 actions and produced 1,860 documents. Not a single arrest was made.
In 2016 Operation Midland was scrapped. Northumbria Police were tasked to investigate Beech himself and discovered gaping holes in his story which the Met failed to find.
Ex-Met detective superintendent Michael Hames said of Operation Midland: “It was a total and utter cock-up. What I find extraordinary is how the police believed the lies told by Beech.”
But yesterday it emerged the officers who led Operation Midland were cleared of blame without ever being interviewed.
The Independent Office of Police Conduct ruled there was no disciplinary case to answer for McDonald and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse.
Its decision was based on a “comprehensive” analysis of reports and case notes rather than interviews with the pair.
Watson yesterday defended his role, saying: “I felt it was my duty to respond to the claims that had been made to me.”
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The 'believers'
The public figures and officials who were ready to believe Carl Beech without properly investigating his claims of a murderous VIP paedophile ring.
Labour MP Tom Watson
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Police chief Hogan-Howe
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Detective Ken McDonald
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The Exaro news agency
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Carl Beech's lurid allegations left string of victims in their wake
CARL Beech’s lurid allegations of rape, murder and torture left a string of victims in their wake.
He had claimed a dozen high-profile figures from the worlds of politics, the military and the secret services abused him for nine years until he was 16.
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He accused former MP Harvey Proctor of raping a boy and stabbing him to death. Police spent 15 hours searching his home on the back of the false allegations. Mr Proctor wept in court as he gave evidence at his accuser’s trial and blasted his claims as “balderdash”.
He said allegations he was a member of a VIP sex ring were “wrong, malicious, false, horrendous”.
Fantasist Beech also accused ex-Prime Minister Ted Heath of abusing him on his yacht, Morning Cloud. He died in 2005 aged 89.
In court, Mr Proctor rubbished claims the pair had abused boys together, saying they hated each other. He told the trial Heath would be “disgusted at having to cross my path — the feeling was mutual”.
Beech also accused Britain’s most senior living Army officer — 95-year-old Lord Bramall — of abusing him.
He said he was raped in barracks, woodland and Imber village on Salisbury Plain, Wilts, where the Army conducts live firing training.
Lord Bramall was too frail to attend court but the jury heard he told officers the allegations were “preposterous” and “monstrous”.
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He laughed at suggestions he attended abuse parties with Jimmy Savile, describing the disgraced radio and TV star as “the most odious man I have ever seen”. His wife Dorothy Bramall died before he was told he faced no further action.
Former Home Secretary Lord Brittan also died before his name was cleared after Beech accused him of raping him while holding his head under water. The late Lord Janner was also falsely accused.
Beech made his first claims of abuse against Jimmy Savile in 2012 although Wiltshire Police logged it as “undetected” due to a lack of evidence. His story was later picked up by an online investigations agency and published in a Sunday paper.
He met Metropolitan Police officers for the first time in October 2014 and Operation Midland was launched the following month.
The homes of Mr Proctor, Lord Brittan and Lord Bramall were searched and Beech pocketed £22,000 in compensation.
The probe was running out of steam by January 2016 and was closed that March with no arrests. But in November that year, cops raided Beech’s home and found child abuse images on his computers.
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He travelled to Sweden in February 2018 and later went on the run before being extradited back to the UK to face trial.
Beech’s groundless claims were not the only ones made against VIPs in the aftermath of the Savile scandal.
The police watchdog oversaw investigations into 37 cases of alleged cover-ups of child sexual abuse by establishment figures. None resulted in any prosecutions.
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