COME CLEAN, SAYS EX-MET CHIEF
Full report into the police’s bungled ‘Nick’ probe MUST be released, warns Lord Stevens
A FORMER head of Scotland Yard last night demanded his old force release an unredacted version of a damning report into its shambolic ‘Nick’ investigation.
Lord Stevens, who as Sir John Stevens was Commissioner of the Met between 2000 and 2005, called for exjudge Sir Richard Henriques’s review to be made public in full.
He spoke out as Britain’s biggest force issued an extraordinary statement, suggesting it may not publish the uncensored version of his report as it could reveal covert policing methods and help criminals dodge justice.
Lord Stevens’s intervention will pile pressure on Yard chiefs to release Sir Richard’s dossier into the £2.5million Operation Midland investigation which ruined the lives and reputations of a string of VIPs who were falsely accused of being part of a murderous VIP paedophile ring.
Among those wrongly alleged to have been child sex perverts were former Armed Forces chief Field Marshal Lord Bramall, 95, former home secretary Leon Brittan, and ex Tory MP Harvey Proctor, who each had their homes raided by police.
In an astonishing broadside at the Met in Tuesday’s Daily Mail, Sir Richard suggested police may have broken the law by using false evidence to obtain warrants to raid the homes of high-profile figures.
He said the detectives did not have the right to search the properties because their description of Nick – real name Carl Beech – as a ‘credible’ witness was false, effectively fooling a judge into granting the warrants.
Sir Richard’s 2016 probe into Operation Midland, which closed without any arrests or charges after 16 months, identified 43 blunders as police investigated Beech’s bogus allegations. But more than 80 per cent of its 491 pages were redacted.
Speaking to the Daily Mail last night, Lord Stevens – who remains a hugely respected figure at the Met – said of Sir Richard’s review: ‘A report like this needs to be released in full because otherwise people will get their hands on it and bits will leak out. What needs to happen is for the full truth to come out. It’s as simple as that.
‘The best thing in these situations is to have full exposure and transparency, especially with something which has caused enormous damage to the victims (of Nick’s lies) and also to the reputation of the police service.
‘Lord Bramall has been massively damaged by it all. I know that for a fact. I know that from friends of his who talk to me about it. I don’t think he will ever get over it. What he said about being hurt more by this than he was during the war speaks for itself.’
He added he was ‘very sad’ about the fierce criticism of his old force in the case of serial liar Beech.
‘You always keep an open mind in investigations but I have to say that the instructions that came from the Home Office, through Theresa May, that officers should treat every allegation, post Savile, as an absolute fact goes totally against the normal rules of investigation,’ the peer said.
‘This (case) is a clarion call to ensure that experienced detectives are used and further, that proper training is given. You don’t get proper training at universities, you get proper training actually on the job.
‘We need to get back to some old-fashioned skills that all of us learnt over the years.’
His remarks came as new Home Secretary Priti Patel prepared to quiz Michael Lockwood, the head of the Independent Office for Police Conduct, over its decision to clear five Operation Midland detectives of misconduct. Sources have said she will be ‘seeking an explanation as to why there were no proceedings against officers if there was indeed evidence of misconduct’.
Yesterday also saw Radio 2 presenter Paul Gambaccini – falsely accused of sex abuse and whose case is featured in the Henriques review – call for the unredacted version of it to be released in full.
He said: ‘The public will be shocked to see what nonsense the Metropolitan Police took seriously and how many innocent lives were tormented.’
Scotland Yard has been coming under mounting pressure to publish following last week’s conviction of Beech, whose lies led to the Met’s £2.5million inquiry. Beech, a convicted paedophile, was jailed for 18 years.
But in a controversial statement last night, the Met suggested publication could breach data protection laws and could also help other criminals escape justice. It added: ‘We are not considering withholding any material because it may be embarrassing or critical of the [Met] or its officers.
Comment – Page 18
‘Full exposure and transparency’