Tom Watson ‘airbrushed out of BBC’s Nick scandal documentary’
Hasty re-edit after victim fury
THE BBC has been forced to hastily re-edit a documentary into VIP abuse fantasist ‘Nick’ after victims complained Tom Watson’s role was airbrushed out.
An original cut of the hour-long programme, which will be broadcast on Monday, failed to mention the former Labour deputy leader.
Yet Mr Watson’s claims to Parliament of a Westminster paedophile ring are credited with whipping up the hysteria that allowed Nick – real name Carl Beech – to be believed.
Beech, a 50-year-old paedophile, accused innocent Establishment figures of child rape and murder, leading to police raids on the homes of former armed forces chief Lord Bramall, former home secretary Leon Brittan and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor.
He was jailed for 18 years last summer for perverting the course of justice and other offences.
Shortly before he made his claims to Scotland Yard in 2014, sparking its disastrous Operation Midland investigation, he met Mr Watson in his Westminster office. The following year Mr Watson had a meeting with a Met detective to discuss Beech’s allegations.
Beech’s Newcastle Crown Court trial heard that he described Mr Watson, alongside journalist Mark Conrad of disgraced website Exaro, as being part of a ‘little group’ that supported him. The documentary has also been criticised for providing a platform for Mr Conrad, who talks of ‘the deep impact’ the case had on him.
Angry victims said his articles for Exaro and failure to scrutinise Beech’s wild allegations enabled him to ‘peddle his lies’. Last night, Mr Proctor, falsely accused by Beech of being a serial child killer, said: ‘Not including Tom Watson is like writing Hamlet without Hamlet. Tom Watson set the hare running when he put his question to Parliament about the existence of a VIP paedophile ring.
‘Tom Watson is central to this. He invited Beech to the House of Commons.’ Daniel Janner QC, whose father, the late Labour peer Lord Janner was also falsely accused by Beech, was interviewed for the documentary – The Unbelievable Story of Carl Beech – but was left out.
He said: ‘All of this was spearheaded by Tom Watson. I find it totally unacceptable and startling that his role should be airbrushed because it was as a result of him whipping up the hysteria that led to people like Carl Beech being believed by the police.’
A BBC source suggested Mr Watson, who is now chairman of UK Music, had declined to take part in the documentary.
But it is understood that the former MP will now be mentioned in the final version, which will be broadcast on BBC2 at 9pm.
A BBC spokesman said last night: ‘This film examines how Carl Beech constructed his lies, and contains important new information on the impact and suffering his actions brought to his victims and their families.’
Mr Watson could not be reached for comment.
Mr Conrad did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Whipping up hysteria’