Police keep Bramall waiting for an apology
POLICE issued an 891-word statement on the Lord Bramall case yesterday – that contained not one word of apology for their heavy-handed investigation into baseless child sex allegations.
The rambling letter was designed to explain why Scotland Yard would not say sorry for its probe into unsubstantiated claims the 92-yearold war hero was a paedophile.
But last night Lord Bramall, the former head of the Army, attacked the force’s move as self- serving and ‘purely the police justifying themselves’. He said, however, he would accept an offer from a senior officer to meet him to explain what happened during their ten-month investigation.
Lord Bramall had his home raided by police last March in the presence of his dying wife after a suspected serial fantasist, known only as Nick, accused him of historical child sex abuse. Nick had alleged that Britain’s most decorated living soldier abused him at a military base more than 30 years ago. He has also claimed that a VIP paedophile ring, including exallegations
‘Vicious attacks on his reputation
prime minister Edward Heath, former Tory Home Secretary Leon Brittan, and various ex-heads of the security services, killed three boys.
A senior detective provoked a storm after telling a press conference the allegations were regarded as being ‘credible and true’.
D-Day hero Lord Bramall was interviewed under caution over child abuse claims and spent nearly a year under suspicion. But on Friday night, police grudgingly announced there was insufficient evidence to bring charges and that they had dropped the case.
Since then, Metropolitan Police boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has been under mounting pressure from top political, military and police figures to make a full apology.
Yesterday Sir Bernard left it to one of his subordinates to say why Lord Bramall does not deserve an apology.
Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan said in a statement: ‘For a person to have their innocence publicly called into question must be appalling, and so I have every sympathy with Lord Bramall and his late wife and regret the distress they endured.’
She added: ‘However, if we were to apologise whenever we investigated that did not lead to a charge, we believe this would have a harmful impact on the judgments made by officers. Investigators may be less likely to pursue allegations they knew would be hard to prove.’
But last night Lord Bramall’s son, Nicholas, said his father should receive an ‘exoneration’ rather than an apology. He added: ‘I have been saddened beyond belief by the vicious attacks on his character and reputation. He does not deserve any of it.’
Anthony Stansfeld, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley who served under Lord Bramall in the Army, said the Met statement was ‘dishonest’. He added: ‘Having got it wrong, largely through gullibility and incompetence, they have a moral duty to apologise properly. It needs an apology as public as their actions were in taking this case forward.’