Judge urges criminal inquiry into botched child sex abuse probe

A FORMER High Court judge is calling on the Home Secretary to launch a criminal inquiry into the Metropolitan Police’s botched VIP child sex abuse probe.

In an open letter to Priti Patel, Sir Richard Henriques said Scotland Yard’s disastrous Operation Midland has “gravely damaged” confidence in the justice system.

Sir Richard heavily criticised the Met’s bungled investigation into false claims of a VIP sex abuse ring in Westminster in a 2016 report, which identified 43 police failings.

But the Independent Office for Police Conduct found no evidence of misconduct or criminality by the officers during the operation.

Former home secretary Leon Brittan was one of the men falsely accused by Gloucester-based fantasist Carl Beech - then known as “Nick” - and died in January 2015 without knowing there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

His home was raided, along with those of D-Day veteran Lord Bramall and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, before it emerged that all the claims were based on lies by Beech, who was jailed for 18 years in 2019 for perverting the course of justice.

Sir Richard said a district judge was “knowingly misled into issuing search warrants”, in his letter published in the Daily Mail.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that criminal acts have been committed,” he said.

Home Secretary Priti Patel asked Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor to launch a review in 2019, which criticised the Met for waiting three years before acting on Sir Richard’s recommendations and found bosses were more concerned with “restricting access” to the report.

THE West’s biggest agricultural market has urged farmers and livestock buyers to comply with coronavirus regulations or it risks being closed down.

Inspectors from Sedgemoor District Council were dismayed by some of the behaviour they saw when they attended the sales ring at Sedgemoor Auction Centre last week.

The livestock market, which is based at Junction 24 of the M5 near Bridgwater in Somerset, has several sales days per week and attracts farmers from across the region.

Despite the necessary procedures being put in place by the market, inspectors said not all attendees were following the regulations.

And this week the district council informed the market – which is operated by Greenslade Taylor Hunt (GTH) – that it would consider issuing a ‘prohibition notice’ that could temporarily close the market if compliance with mask wearing and social distancing regulations was not improved.

On its website, GTH said Sedgemoor District Council had written to it on Tuesday, February 9 advising that if compliance with correct mask wearing is not undertaken it would consider the issue of a Prohibition Notice.

It added: “This is a very serious situation. It has been identified that ‘a significant number of attendees do not wear a face covering pulled up over their nose and mouth and some not at all’.”

The letter from the council stated that all of the proper distancing markings on the floor were present, but “on the whole these directions were ignored by the attendees who get together shoulder to shoulder with another, face covering pulled down and converse at length, turning their face toward one another frequently to do so”.

The letter from the council also said “shared contact on the rails around the ring was frequent” and “many would sanitise their hands at the front entrance to the venue but did not do so at all afterwards, having played around with their face covering regularly”.

GTH has urged all attendees at the market to comply with the regulations on mask wearing, distancing and regularly sanitising.

It said: “Please, if you want this market to remain open it is essential attendees follow our Covid rules.”

It reminded vendors to “drop and go” by unloading stock, passing over paperwork and to then go home without watching the auction or to meet friends.

It also said only one buyer per business should attend, with no partners or children present.

Please, if you want this market to remain open it is essential attendees follow our Covid rules GTH

A TOTAL of 14,012,224 million people in the UK have now received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to Government figures published on February 12. This is the equivalent of 21.0% of the total UK population, and 26.6% of people aged 18 and over.

In England a total of 11,809,241 people had received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine up to February 11, according to NHS England. This is 21.0% of the total population of England, and 26.7% of people aged 18 and over, based on the latest population estimates from the Office for National Statistics. The latest available breakdown for age groups in England is for doses given up to February

7. By this date an estimated 91.3% of people aged 80 and over had received their first dose, along with 95.6% of people aged 75-79 and 74.0% of people aged 70-74.

A total of 93.2% of residents of older adult care homes in England eligible to have their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine had received the jab up to February 7. Residents are classed as eligible for the vaccine if they have not had Covid-19 in the previous 28 days.

NHS England said the number of eligible residents includes a small number at care homes currently undergoing an outbreak and which cannot be visited.

THE UN’s top human rights body opened an urgent session yesterday to discuss the military coup in Myanmar, with calls for the release of people “arbitrarily detained” – including civilian government leader Aung San Suu Kyi – and more action by United Nations officials to increase scrutiny of the country.

The Human Rights Council has no power to impose sanctions but can train a potent political spotlight on rights abuses and violations.

Friday’s session came shortly after the Biden administration, which has already imposed sanctions on coup leaders, revived US participation at the 47-member Geneva body.

“The seizure of power by the Myanmar military earlier this month constitutes a profound setback for the country after a decade of hardwon gains in its democratic transition,” said the deputy high commissioner for human rights Nada al-Nashif.

A draft resolution, presented by the UK and the EU, calls for the “immediate and unconditional release” of Ms Suu Kyi and other senior officials in her government, a lifting of restrictions on the internet and unimpeded humanitarian access, among other things.

General Min Aung Hlaing’s coup on February 1 ousted the civilian government of Nobel laureate Ms Suu Kyi and prevented recently elected legislators from opening a new session of parliament.