Victims of Met fiasco deserve the truth

Edwin Bramall has given a lifetime of service to his country, from the day as a young officer that he took part in the d-day landings to his retirement with the rank of Field Marshal.

That this distinguished soldier should have been humiliated by having his home searched as part of a police investigation into child sexual abuse – and then interrogated like a common criminal – is a national disgrace.

Reputations have been dragged through the mud as a result of Operation Midland, the hopelessly shoddy investigation conducted by the Metropolitan Police into allegations concerning a VIP paedophile ring made by the fantasist Carl Beech, known as ‘nick’.

Even more grave is the disclosure that the inquiry was mishandled from the outset.

Thanks to an article in this newspaper yesterday by former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, we have learned that officers engaged in Midland withheld evidence showing how Beech’s fantastical claims were riddled with inconsistencies in order to gain court approval for warrants to search individuals’ homes.

Yet the police watchdog, the IOPC, quietly cleared them after what former DPP Lord Macdonald calls a ‘cursory’ process.

So where is Sir Richard’s full, un-redacted report? So far, the Met is refusing to release it – a fresh scandal adding to those of the Midland fiasco and IOPC whitewash.

There was no secrecy for the true victims of ‘nick’s’ vile lies. now, there should be none for the officers who trashed their good names in such cavalier fashion.

As a first step, Sir Richard’s report needs to be published in full, and now.

nothing else will do if the reputation of the Metropolitan Police is not to be damaged beyond repair by this appalling witch-hunt, a grave warning of what happens when police pander to hysteria.