HORRIFYING
Son of vilified war hero condemns police after Mail exposé... and says Met MUST come clean
LORD Bramall’s son last night called on the head of Scotland Yard to order an independent criminal probe into alleged misconduct in the Met’s bungled VIP child sex abuse inquiry. Urging Met Commissioner Cressida Dick to call in an outside force, he said her officers had shown a ‘staggering level of incompetence’ in Operation Midland and also appeared to have ‘acted illegally’.
Nick Bramall spoke out a day after details emerged of a damning document that showed police should never have raided the home of his 95-year-old father – a former head of the Armed Forces. The raid was over false paedophile allegations made by the fantasist known as ‘Nick’, whose real name is Carl Beech.
A Mail investigation revealed that an application seeking permission to search Lord Bramall’s home was riddled with falsehoods.
Last night, Mr Bramall was scathing of the Met, saying: ‘Their having listened to and believed the uncorroborated ramblings of Carl Beech was bad enough.
‘Now we discover that the injustices served on those falsely accused has been compounded by contempt for the law. The latest developments about the misleading evidence given in order to secure a search warrant is horrifying. They must come clean.’
His comments come a week after retired judge Sir Richard Henriques – who in 2016 wrote a scathing report on Operation Midland – said officers gave the judge false evidence to obtain the search warrants to raid the homes of Lord Bramall and two other VIPs and should face a criminal investigation.
Met Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House said last night: ‘The Met has already published a redacted version of Sir Richard’s report pending the investigation of Carl Beech. We will publish as full a version of the report as possible, as soon as we can now proceedings are complete.’
But Mr Bramall, 67, a successful landscape gardener in Dorset, added: ‘Sir Richard’s report must be published in full. He went to the trouble to write a very thorough report into Operation Midland and yet much of it has been withheld.
‘This whole sorry business continues with four years of my father’s life ruined. He is not a well man and we want an honest conclusion
‘We want an honest conclusion’
before it’s too late. To that end Commissioner Dick should order a criminal enquiry, carried out by an independent force otherwise much of the respect for the Met will be lost.’
Speaking in the wake of the latest revelations, former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord Macdonald QC said: ‘This scandal is growing by the day. Police officers are under an absolute duty to be frank, open and truthful when they are applying for a search warrant.
‘But the document uncovered by the Mail... omitted crucial information that completely undermined their own case. Misleading a court in this way is not only a disgrace, it is probably criminal.
‘Public confidence demands an independent inquiry into the handling of Operation Midland.’
Tory MP Nigel Evans joined the demands for a fully independent inquiry. He said: ‘Quite frankly, huge errors were made. I think it would be very wise of Cressida Dick to ensure this is independently looked at by an outside force.’
Daniel Janner QC, whose father Lord Janner was falsely accused of abuse by Beech, said: ‘An outside police force should be brought in immediately. Cressida Dick needs to act decisively if faith in the police is to be restored.’ Yesterday the Mail revealed how detectives claimed in a secret search warrant application that they had no reason to doubt claims made by Beech. The document was presented to a judge who approved the raid on Lord Bramall’s home in March 2015.
But an investigation by this newspaper has established that police were aware of at least eight factors that raised serious questions about the claims made by Beech, a 51-year-old former nurse.
The revelations about the warrants for raids on Lord Bramall, former home secretary Lord Brit
tan and ex Tory MP Harvey Proctor piled pressure on Home Secretary Priti Patel to order a fresh inquiry.
Last week she demanded a full explanation of the police watchdog’s decision to clear three Operation Midland officers. Two more senior officers were exonerated two years ago.
Last month vicar’s son Beech was jailed for 18 years for telling lies about alleged VIP child abuse and murder.
The Met Police gave nearly £1million to another force while investigating Beech. A Freedom of Information request showed they reimbursed Northumbria Police £951,982 for probing his fabrications.
Bunker mentality has set in at Scotland Yard as the Metropolitan Police seeks to play down its disastrous mishandling of Operation Midland – the inquiry into a non- existent VIP sex abuse ring that resulted in the homes of totally innocent people being raided by officers using search warrants obtained by deceiving a judge.
As former home secretary David Blunkett states in this newspaper today, the Midland fiasco is an appalling stain on the Met, and will remain so until it does the decent thing and admits its culpability. Yet, Commissioner Cressida Dick remains silent, refusing to commit to an independent inquiry into misconduct bordering on criminality.
Stonewalling is a common tactic of modern officialdom. But be assured: the Mail will be unrelenting in its pursuit of the truth about this disgraceful affair.
not only in the cause of rooting out wrongdoing by the powerful – a vital ingredient of democracy – but in deference to those who have suffered.
One of them is Field Marshal Lord Bramall, now 95 years of age. This D-Day veteran has suffered not only terrible ‘indignity’ but also ‘injustice’, says his son.
The police deserve our support and respect in normal circumstances. But this is conditional upon them observing the highest standards of behaviour – and admitting their failings.
edwin Bramall is holder of the Military Cross, an honourable man. The Met should learn from him how honourable men and women behave.