MI5 aware of prosecutor’s lies over Cyril Smith abuse

MI5 knew the country’s chief prosecutor had covered up a sex abuse inquiry into Cyril Smith but did nothing because it was not its job to expose paedophiles, an inquiry heard.

Files released by the intelligence agency show it was aware that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had lied to a newspaper over its decision not to prosecute Smith. But it decided not to make the information public because its duty was to “defend the realm” rather than to expose a prominent politician accused of being a paedophile.

The disclosure came during the first day of hearings into how Smith, the former Liberal MP, was able to abuse boys at Cambridge House hostel and Knowl View residential school in Rochdale. Smith died in 2010, having never faced prosecution.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) last night released an MI5 briefing note that showed how Sir Thomas Hetherington, the then DPP, had lied to a local newspaper about the existence of a 1970 police inquiry into allegations of gross indecency made against Smith.

Had the DPP admitted Smith had been under investigation, it would have led to a new inquiry and Smith being put on trial in his lifetime.

Hetherington had called a legal adviser in the intelligence agency to inform him of the press interest from David Bartlett, a journalist with the Rochdale Alternative Press. The briefing note from April 1979 states: “After consultations, the DPP’S press representative had untruthfully told Bartlett that they had no record of this case. In fact their file closely accorded with the details given by Bartlett.”

The police investigation into Smith had been closed in 1970 by Hetherington’s predecessor Sir Norman Skelhorn, who decided it was unlikely to lead to a prosecution – despite a senior detective warning that the “sordid” accusations against Smith “stood up”.

Brian Altman QC, IICSA’S lead counsel, told the inquiry: “The documents show that the security service’s legal adviser was informed of the false representations to the press from the DPP’S office.

“However, given their function was to defend the realm, at that time, and investigation was outside their remit, they simply filed the information related to the false representations that had been made to the press.”

Lancashire Police’s detective superintendent Leach was said by Mr Altman to be “unsparing” in his assessment of Smith. His report said: “It seems impossible to excuse his conduct over a considerable period of time whilst sheltering behind a veneer of respectability.

“He has used his unique position to indulge in a sordid series of indecent episodes with young boys towards whom he had a special responsibility.”

The inquiry heard that Margaret Thatcher’s decision to approve Smith for a knighthood helped him maintain close ties to children’s services.

Smith was knighted in 1988 despite knowledge “at the very highest level of politics” about allegations of his abuse.