‘Devious’ sex abuse liar Carl Beech slammed by judge as Westminster VIP paedo ring inventor is jailed for 18 years

A JUDGE slammed a "devious" sex-abuse fantasist who invented a VIP paedophile ring as he jailed him for 18 years today.

Carl Beech, 51, lied to detectives about being abused by a murderous Westminster paedophile ring in the '70s and '80s.

Beech, who was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court, spun an "extraordinary tale" about "three child murders, multiple rapes, kidnapping, false imprisonment and widespread sexual abuse", sparking a £2.5 million witch-hunt.

The former nurse, 51, invented a string of malicious claims about high profile figures including 91-year-old Normandy veteran Field Marshal Lord Bramall, the late Lord Brittan and ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor.

Beech showed no emotion as he was led from the court.

Sentencing Beech, judge Mr Justice James Goss said he had "deliberately, repeatedly and maliciously told lies to the police".

The judge said: "I'm quite satisfied that you are an intelligent, resourceful, manipulative and devious person.

"You accused living persons of the highest integrity and decency of vile acts."

I'm quite satisfied that you are an intelligent, resourceful, manipulative and devious person

Judge, Mr Justice James Goss

Daniel Janner, QC, the son of late Labour MP Lord Janner, who Beech falsely accused of being in a VIP Paedophile ring, today demanded Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson resigns for backing Beech.

D-Day hero Lord Bramall, said Beech's "monstrous allegations" were worse than his war wounds.

In court, bearded Beech sat in the dock as victims attacked his "smears of the very worst kind" and spoke of their "icy contempt" for him.

Among those Beech accused were prominent figures including a former Prime Minister, a former Army chief, and head of MI5 and MI6.

But in a chilling twist of "breath-taking hypocrisy", Beech was himself was a paedophile with an interest in pre-teen boys.

He was convicted of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud by jurors after just four hours of deliberation at Newcastle Crown Court.

'ICY CONTEMPT'

In October 2012, Labour's Tom Watson, now deputy leader, first raised the claims in Parliament and later met Beech to discuss the allegations he made.

Mr Watson claimed he'd seen "clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No 10".

Arriving at court for Beech's sentencing, Mr Janner said: “Watson should hang his head in shame, apologise and resign."

In a victim impact statement, Mr Janner told the court: "It is impossible to get over the hurt which such ghastly alleged acts of violence have on a law-abiding family like mine.

"They are corrosive. They lie on the internet with ignorant people saying that there is no smoke without fire."

Diana Brittan, widow of Lord Brittan, described the trauma of dealing with her husband's terminal illness while facing "a series of false allegations".

In a statement, she said: "I feel he was caught up in a totally unjustified witchhunt which took its toll on both him and me.

I feel he was caught up in a totally unjustified witchhunt which took its toll on both him and me

Diana Brittan, widow of Lord Brittan

'DENIED A DIGNIFIED DEATH'

"He was denied the dignified death that he deserved.";

Among those also accused was ex-British Army chief Lord Bramall, whose wife of 64 years died during the investigation before his named was cleared.

Lord Bramall's solicitor Drew Pettifer read a statement by the retired Field Marshall made before the trial because he wasn't sure he would live long enough to see Beech convicted.

He said: "I thought I could be hurt no more. I was never as badly wounded in all my time in the military as I was by the allegations made by 'Nick'."

Former Tory minister David Mellor, who was Lord Brittan's deputy at the Home Office, said the Beech case was an "appalling indictment" of the Metropolitan Police.

He said the force had been guilty of "idiocy on an epic scale" in believing Beech's lies which "a child would have seen through".

"The Metropolitan Police should hang their heads in shame on this," he told PA.

"There is no point in getting 20,000 more police officers if they become lions led by donkeys - the kind of donkeys who were responsible for Operation Midland."

Jurors had heard how in 2014, Beech told cops had been raped and abused for nine years by a VIP paedophile gang nicknamed "the Group" during the 1970s.

MULTI-MILLION POUND PROBE

He claimed the abuse took place at the home of former Prime Minister Ted Heath - as well as in Dolphin Square, the Carlton Club, Stowe School, London Zoo, and military bases.

This led to a multi-million pound investigation codenamed Operation Midland with cops raiding the homes of 12 elderly and prominent figures.

The fraud relates to a £22,000 criminal injuries payout Beech falsely claimed for being raped by Jimmy Savile.

Over 20 hours of police interviews, Beech also said he had held the hand of a dying young boy - murdered in front of him by former Tory MP Harvey Proctor.

The politician was forced to deny "he is a sadistic child killer and that he committed other serious sexual offences".

Mr Proctor said of Beech: "His allegations, following the Metropolitan Police Service involvement, were the worst that can be made - that I was a serial child sexual murderer, torturer and abuser.

"I find it extraordinary that an institution which formerly I held in high regard, the Metropolitan Police Service, allowed itself to lend weight to such false and incredible allegations.

"For Mr Carl Beech, I have a feeling of icy contempt."

This is one of the sketches drawn by Carl Beech to show people some of the ";horrific abuse" he suffered as a child

WATSON DEFENDS RAISING ALLEGATIONS

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has refused to say sorry to former MP Harvey Proctor, one of Beech's victims, but admitted he was "hurt and angry".

Mr Watson defended his actions, saying he'd only met him once and assured him that he would take his claims seriously, as he did with other alleged victims.

"During that meeting Nick said very little and did not name any of his alleged abusers," he said.

"It was not my role to judge whether victims' stories were true.

"I encouraged every person that came to me to take their story to the police and that is what I did with Nick.

"I hope this trial, and the case of one person, does not prevent survivors of child sexual abuse coming forward and reporting their experiences to the police."

CALLS FOR WATSON TO APOLOGISE

But Mr Proctor earlier called on the deputy Labour boss to apologise for saying Beech wasn't delusional and supporting his case.

"I appreciate that he is hurt and angry but in justifying his attack he has disingenuously used a selective quotation from an interview I did," Mr Watson said.

But he insisted he was justified in speaking out about the claims of the fantasist.

"As a public figure of responsibility I felt it was my duty to respond to the claims that had been made to me," he insisted.

"To stand aside when there was a possibility that children were at risk of sexual abuse was not an option."

And he stressed that his comments led to old cases to be re-opened, and did lead to the conviction of three other child abusers.

"Had I not raised this matter in Parliament I do not believe that the Righton files would have been revisited and three dangerous men guilty of child sexual abuse would not have been brought to justice," he said.

Beech had sobbed to cops after claiming he was passed to generals to be tortured at military bases and sadistically sexually abused by other Establishment figures in the 1970s and 1980s.

The fantasist named former prime minister Sir Edward Heath, Mr Proctor, disgraced Savile and security chiefs Sir Michael Hanley, the head of MI5, and MI6 boss Sir Maurice Oldfield among the gang.

CHILLING 'ABUSE' IMAGES

Bizarrely, he showed police sketches to highlight the “horrific abuse” he suffered as a child.

One image showed a child in a pool of blood surrounded by three demons next to the caption: “Please no more.”

Another drawing shows a person with their arms restrained above their heads and with the heading, “Imber”, one of the military locations where he claimed to have been abused.

Next to it were notes that read: “Cold…chained to the wall…???...something around the middle…pain.”

At the time, Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald said the admissions were "credible and true".

'BEYOND GROTESQUE'

But the court was told his lies were later found to be "totally unfounded, hopelessly compromised, and irredeemably contradicted by other testimony".

Jurors were told that at very base level that Army generals, at the height of the IRA terror threat, couldn't sneak off unguarded to join horrific child abuse sessions.

Prosecutor Tony Badenoch, QC, said the claims caused "immeasurable distress" to those accused and those close to them  suffered "obvious reputational damage".

The investigation saw the homes of powerful figures raided - including  91-year-old Normandy veteran Field Marshall Lord Bramall.

He had thumped the table in front of him and denied having any sexual interest in children in interviews.

Another falsely accused general, 96-year-old Sir Hugh Beach, told the jury via videolink that the allegations against him were "beyond grotesque".

"He would quite happily have seen innocent men arrested and face the full weight of the law.

"I think, for me, that's one of the aggravating features - that he wasn't just making allegations, he hoped that his allegations would result in people appearing in the dock at court."