Put police in the dock over VIP abuse case, says former top judge

Police officers involved in the investigation of Carl Beech, who lied about the existence of a murderous VIP paedophile ring, should be investigated, a former High Court judge said.

Sir Richard Henriques, who in 2016 ran a review of the investigation, also said he believes warrants to search the properties of high-profile figures were “obtained unlawfully”.

Three years ago, his review found more than 40 areas of concern stemming from the actions of investigating officers involved in Operation Midland.

Now in a comment piece published in the Daily Mail, Sir Richard said he maintained the opinion expressed in his review, of which only some sections have been made public, saying that the warrants authorising the searches of the homes of Lord Edwin Bramall, Lady Diana Brittan and Harvey Proctor “were obtained unlawfully”.

Sir Richard wrote that three applications for search warrants stated Beech’s allegations had been consistent, but he had not found that to be the case.

He added: “I remain unable to conclude that every officer acted with due diligence and in good faith.

“I concluded in 2016 – and I remain of the view – that the officers responsible for the three applications did not in fact fully believe that there were reasonable grounds to believe Beech’s allegations.”

The allegations of Beech, formerly known as “Nick”, to the Wiltshire Police in 2012 were “inconsistent” with those made to the Metropolitan Police in 2014 and with blogs published by Beech in 2014, Sir Richard said.

“Thus the course of justice was perverted with shocking consequences. A criminal investigation should surely follow.”

Beech, 51, was last week given an 18-year prison sentence for 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud.