So who WAS to blame for breaking law?
Top officer in spotlight for raid on Bramall home Inspector ‘reviewed and authorised’ warrant Application to judge signed by detectives
THE emergence of the search warrant application for the raid on the home of former Armed Forces chief Lord Bramall puts one of the country’s most senior police officers at the centre of the Operation Midland scandal.
The previously secret document – seen by the Daily Mail – reveals that a district judge approved the police request to storm the property of the D-Day hero after being assured its implications had been ‘considered at DAC level’ – deputy assistant commissioner.
At the time, Steve Rodhouse held that rank with the Metropolitan Police and was gold commander of Operation Midland.
He had a crucial role in running the 16-month investigation, including decisions over raids and interviews with suspects.
Also coming under renewed scrutiny is Alison Hepworth, the former detective inspector and ‘authorising officer’ who reviewed and authorised the Bramall search warrant application on February 27, 2015. It went before District Judge Howard Riddle in London on March 2.
Miss Hepworth was at the behind- closed- doors hearing at Westminster magistrates’ court with the senior investigating officer on Operation Midland, Detective Chief Inspector Diane Tudway, and fellow murder squad officer Detective Sergeant Eric Sword – who signed the search warrant application.
Last week a former judge said police broke the law in the bungled probe into VIP child abuse fantasist Nick. Sir Richard Henriques said officers used false evidence to obtain search warrants.
As the officer in overall charge of the shambolic murder inquiry, it is Mr Rodhouse who faces awkward questions. Over the years, he has repeatedly refused to comment on whether he approved the use of the phrase ‘ credible and true’ to describe Carl Beech – then known as ‘Nick’ – whose lies about child abuse and murder triggered Operation Midland in December 2014.
The phrase – originated by Det Supt Kenny McDonald – went uncorrected by police for nine months, until after the Daily Mail exposed Beech as a suspected serial liar in September 2015.
It was not until January 2016 that Mr Rodhouse informed Lord Bramall’s lawyer that there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to charge the former head of the Army with paedophile offences.
But Mr Rodhouse’s letter announcing the end of the investigation into Lord Bramall sought to absolve Scotland Yard and blamed the media for his tenmonth ordeal which included the March 2015 breakfast raid. He also left open the prospect of a further inquiry, should new information emerge. The legalistic tone of the letter infuriated Lord Bramall’s family and friends, who said that the Met should have been generous enough to say that it had ‘not found a shred of evidence’.
They called for a ‘proper’ apology from the Met after the uncorroborated allegations made by Beech came to nothing.
The force later paid Lord Bramall £100,000 in damages.
When Operation Midland formally closed in March 2016, with no arrests or charges, Mr Rodhouse insisted the investigation had been ‘handled well’.
He also refused to apologise to former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, one of those falsely accused of serial child abuse and murder.
At a press conference, he stopped short of saying he was confident there never was a VIP paedophile ring and instead stated the evidence had not reached the threshold for charges. He added: ‘Our role here has been to investigate some serious allegations of crime. We’ve conducted a very detailed inquiry and our role really has been to assess whether or not there’s enough evidence to ask the CPS to level charges.
‘My conclusion today is we haven’t reached that threshold. We’ve had a long investigation, a detailed investigation into some serious allegations of crime. It’s absolutely right that we fully investigated it.’
Following the scathing report into Operation Midland by High Court judge Sir Richard in November 2016, Mr Rodhouse was referred to the police watchdog for potential breaches of ‘duties and responsibilities’ in the investigation. Along with his senior colleague Mr McDonald he was cleared in March 2017. The watchdog said there was no evidence to indicate ‘bad faith, malice or dishonesty’ by the officers and Operation Midland was ‘extensive and carried out diligently’.
Mr Rodhouse has been promoted to a £175,000-a-year post at the National Crime Agency, Britain’s version of the FBI, where he is director general ( operations) under Lynne Owens, his old boss at the Met and Surrey Police.
Lady Brittan received £100,000 damages from the Met over the bungled Operation Midland searches of her two homes in March 2015 – just six weeks after her husband Leon’s death.
Mr Rodhouse had previously been criticised over his handling of a separate, equally disastrous, Scotland Yard rape inquiry into Lord Brittan.
‘Facing awkward questions’ ‘Not a shred of evidence’