Rewarded for failure
Officer at centre of disastrous ‘Nick’ VIP abuse probe sees his total pay package rise to near £300k
A SENIOR officer who led Scotland Yard’s shambolic VIP child abuse inquiry was one of the country’s best-paid policemen last year.
Steve Rodhouse was awarded a bonus, a pay rise and a massive boost to his £2million pension pot, a new report shows.
It took his total package at the National Crime Agency (NCA) to almost £300,000, making him among the highest earners in UK law enforcement.
He got the huge payday despite being blasted for his key role in the scandal of the serial liar known as ‘Nick’, real name Carl Beech, whose false claims of an establishment paedophile ring were deemed ‘credible and true’ by the Met.
The fiasco cost the taxpayer millions and severely damaged the reputations of innocent public figures including ex-Armed Forces chief Lord Bramall, former home secretary Leon Brittan and ex-prime minister Sir Edward Heath.
Mr Rodhouse has faced calls to quit over his role leading the notorious Operation Midland, and to face a fresh disciplinary investigation after he was controversially cleared of misconduct without being interviewed by watchdogs.
He is one of several key police figures in the ‘ Nick’ scandal who have been ‘rewarded for failure’ with promotions and/or enrichment since the case.
Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, one of those falsely accused by Beech, said: ‘It is a slap in the face to the families of the late Lord Bramall, Lord Brittan and myself that the police should seek to reward the person who caused so much damage to so many and left the reputation of the Metropolitan Police Service so low.
‘What Steve Rodhouse and senior officers in the Met have got for themselves is a self-preservation society which has outrageously allowed them to get over-promoted, overpaid and over-protected. He should no longer be working as a police officer.’
Criticising the ‘ incompetence and reckless credulity’ of Operation Midland officers, Sir Edward’s godson Lincoln Seligman said: ‘Mr Rodhouse seems to lead a charmed existence. Whatever his generous package is a reward for, it’s not for success.’
Daniel Janner QC, whose Labour peer father Lord Greville Janner was falsely accused by Beech, said the ‘public will be astounded that
police officer earns more than the Prime Minister’ after overseeing the ‘Nick’ shambles. ‘Mr Rodhouse has tarnished the reputation of the Met,’ he added.
It was Mr Rodhouse who, when a deputy assistant commissioner in the Met, decided in November 2014 to investigate claims by Beech that he had witnessed child abuse and murder carried out by leading establishment figures.
He then decided to hold a press conference at which another officer described the fantastical claims as ‘credible and true’.
The £2.5million inquiry closed without any arrests or charges in March 2016 and paedophile Beech was jailed for 18 years last summer.
Mr Rodhouse was accused of serious errors in the damning inquiry into Operation Midland by former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, for having neither met ‘Nick’ nor read any of his contradictory interviews at the time the investigation was launched. He was one of five Met officers referred to watchdogs, but was cleared within months without even being quizzed about his conduct in the case. Mr Rodhouse then joined the NCA as director general (operations), effectively deputy to its head Lynne Owens.
New accounts for the NCA – Brita
‘It is a slap in the face’ ‘He seems to lead a charmed existence’
ain’s equivalent of the FBI – reveal details of his astonishing pay package. For the financial year ending in March, Mr Rodhouse received a salary of £175,000 to £180,000 – a higher band than he was in the previous year. The Daily Mail understands he also received a £450 bonus for last year.
And his accrued pension benefits were £109,000, up from £70,000 the previous year. It gave him a total remuneration of between £285,000 and £ 290,000. And his total pension pot, after more than 24 years in policing, is now worth £2.2million.
A handful of senior officers in the Met and the National Police Chiefs Council received total remuneration of just over £280,000 last year.
Sir Richard’s scathing report also savaged Mr Rodhouse over a parallel Met investigation into false claims of rape against Lord Brittan. Before that the bungling officer oversaw a much-criticised child sex abuse inquiry by Surrey Police into Jimmy Savile.
The NCA said: ‘Steve Rodhouse received the same 1 per cent pay increase in 2019/20 as all other eligible members of the NCA board.
‘Additionally, pension benefit figures are not cash values and officers do not receive them as payment. It would be inaccurate to suggest that a change in that figure is comparable to an increase in salary.’