Fake claims of child abuse by UK elite bring 18-year sentence

LONDON — A man who falsely claimed he was abused by members of a pedophile ring at the heart of the British government was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison.

Carl Beech, 51, was the key witness in a prominent investigation of sexual abuse and slaying allegations involving British politicians, military generals and senior officials in the intelligence services.

Beech was convicted of perverting the course of justice, fraud, voyeurism and possession of indecent images.

“He derived sexual pleasure from graphically describing the violent sexual abuse of young boys,” prosecutor Tony Badenoch said of Beech’s motives. “He enjoyed the attention and celebrity.”

Beech approached police in 2012 with a fantastic tale of drugs, sex and power at the higher echelons of power. It was a sensitive time, coming amid a wave of revelations that Jimmy Savile, a popular BBC presenter between the 1960s and early 2000s, had sexually abused hundreds of children and women.

London’s Metropolitan Police service spent $2.5 million to investigate the “VIP ring” that Beech alleged was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Though the stories were fabricated, he managed to convince senior police officers, journalists and politicians he was a victim.

When doubts arose about Beech’s credibility in 2016, police searched his home and discovered hundreds of images of children being sexually abused and that he had installed a camera in a toilet to film a young boy.

Police closed the investigation in 2016 without a single arrest.