Give us the full report
Bramall leads calls for Met to publish judge’s inquiry into VIP abuse probe
LORD Bramall last night led furious calls for Scotland Yard to release an unredacted version of Sir Richard Henriques’ report into its shambolic ‘Nick’ investigation.
The former head of the Armed Forces said it was imperative the document was published immediately and ‘in its entirety’ to ensure there could be no repeat of the Operation Midland scandal.
Sir Richard’s investigation into the Yard’s handling of Nick – carried out three years ago – identified 43 failings as police probed his bogus allegations of murder and child rape against Establishment figures.
But when the retired high court judge’s report was published more than 80 per cent of its 491 pages were redacted.
At the time, Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe insisted this was necessary for ‘data protection’ and because the report contained ‘sensitive information’.
But in a devastating intervention in yesterday’s Daily Mail, Sir Richard spoke out to renew his criticism of the force and to call for a criminal investigation into how Met officers had obtained search warrants in the case.
That led to fresh demands yesterday for Scotland Yard to finally release the judge’s original report in full. Lord Bramall, Harvey Proctor and the family of late Labour peer Greville Janner all demanded its publication.
Despite this, Scotland Yard again insisted it was not yet ready to meet the requests, citing ‘the confidentiality of complainants, witnesses and those accused’. The force said it was still reviewing whether more of the report could be published.
Nick – whose real name is Carl Beech – has been jailed for 18 years for perverting the course of justice and fraud.
In a statement yesterday, 95-year-old Lord Bramall, the former field marshal who was falsely accused by Beech and had his home raided, said: ‘It was much to Sir Bernard HoganHowe’s credit that he commissioned the independent review into investigations of historical sexual abuse by the Metropolitan Police Service led by Sir Richard Henriques following the spectacular collapse of Operation Midland. However the decision to only release a redacted version of the report undermined its impact.
‘Following the comments made by Sir Richard Henriques in the Daily Mail, the report in its entirety should be released to the public immediately.’
Daniel Janner QC, son of falsely accused Labour peer Lord Greville Janner, said: ‘The report must be published in full. The police are still protecting their own from the risk of being prosecuted for perverting the course of justice. The public has a right to know the truth if trust in the police is to be restored.’
The solicitor of former MP Mr Proctor, who had his home raided during Operation Midland, said: ‘It is clear that justice requires the full report to be available to the victims of Beech’s crimes, and for public scrutiny.’
In an explosive intervention in the Mail yesterday, Sir Richard, who acted for the prosecution in the trials of James Bulger’s killers and Harold Shipman, alleged that the ‘course of justice was perverted with shocking consequences’ in the Nick case. He said officers misled a district judge in obtaining search warrants to raid the homes of Mr Proctor, Lord Bramall and Leon Brittan by insisting Beech had been a ‘consistent’ witness.
Sir Richard’s report was ordered in February 2016, with a redacted version published nine months later. He said it took him ‘a matter of days’ to realise Beech was a fantasist and he criticised officers who took part in the raids on the homes of elderly men ‘as if they were looking for body parts’. Sir Richard also examined Wiltshire Police’s Operation Conifer investigation into sex abuse allegations against former prime minister Edward Heath.
He concluded that the ‘vast majority’ of 400 complaints made as part of a national inquiry into historic child abuse claims were without merit.
In a statement, the Met said: ‘The MPS is reviewing Sir Richard’s report to ascertain whether more of it could be published. However, the MPS has tostrike a balance between its commitment to transparency and its legal and moral duties to protect the confidentiality of complainants, witnesses and those accused.
‘The report contains sensitive personal information and explicit descriptions of sexual offences that it would neither be right nor lawful to publish. Nor would it be appropriate to publish or repeat information from investigations where the allegations were dropped without charge or defendants acquitted.’
‘The public has a right to know the truth’