Proctor reports 5 Nick detectives for ‘criminal conduct’
HARvEY Proctor has reported five former Scotland Yard officers for alleged criminality in the force’s shambolic vIP child sex abuse inquiry.
Citing ‘fresh evidence’ of wrongdoing in Operation Midland, he revealed he had made allegations of perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office to an outside force.
Mr Proctor, a former Tory MP who was falsely accused of being a child sex killer by the serial liar known as ‘Nick’, says he lost his home, job and reputation when bungling officers raided his house.
At the start of the £2.5million Met inquiry, detectives wrongly referred to allegations made by Nick, real name Carl
Beech, as ‘credible and true’. Yet despite a retired judge identifying dozens of major blunders by officers, and the Met paying £100,000 in compensation to former armed forces chief Lord Bramall and the widow of ex-home secretary Leon Brittan, no one has faced any sanction.
At an emotional press conference yesterday, Mr Proctor said he had no faith in the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation into the handling of the case, which he has branded a ‘brilliant whitewash’ and ‘cover-up’.
Mr Proctor, 72, revealed he had reported five Operation Midland officers to Northumbria Police after two top judges raised concerns about the case. Former High Court judge, Sir Richard Henriques, savaged the police watchdogs who cleared five Nick case detectives – including two who were exonerated within four months without being interviewed as suspects.
Sir Richard said ‘no effective interrogations’ were carried out during a flawed inquiry by the IOPC. He called for a criminal investigation into police conduct and alleged unlawful search warrant applications, saying justice had been perverted.
In a separate move which deepened the crisis at Britain’s biggest police force, former senior district judge, Howard Riddle, said last month he was misled by Operation Midland officers seeking permission to raid the homes of Mr Proctor, Lord Bramall and the late Lord Brittan. All were falsely accused by Beech.
Mr Proctor said: ‘It is unprecedented that two senior and respected judges
‘Brilliant whitewash and cover-up’
should publicly allege criminality in the conduct of a police investigation.’
He named the five officers he wants investigated: ex Met deputy assistant commissioner Steve Rodhouse, now the £240,000-a-year operations chief at the National Crime Agency, and four retired officers – Kenny McDonald, Diane Tudway, Alison Hepworth and Eric Sword.
Mr Proctor also took aim at Cressida Dick, the head of Scotland Yard. He said: ‘Hitherto the Metropolitan Police has not investigated these matters, indeed Cressida Dick, the Met Commissioner, said she would not appoint an outside police force. Of course that was before last Thursday’s belated admission at the London Assembly by (Dame Cressida) that she initiated Operation Midland herself and was in control of it from its inception.’
The Met confirmed that it had received a referral from Northumbria Police following ‘a complaint comprising criminal allegations in relation to five former Met officers’.
It said it was ‘assessing the complaint’ and declined to comment on Mr Proctor’s allegations against Dame Cressida.