How did this Liberal monster avoid justice?

FOUR years ago, the Mail published extracts from a profoundly disturbing book detailing the grotesque serial sex abuse of young boys by former Liberal MP Cyril Smith.

It also exposed the attitudes that let him continue these depraved activities in his Rochdale constituency for decades.

At the time, this paper argued forcefully that an independent inquiry was needed to establish the extent of Smith’s crimes and why nothing was done about them. Yesterday, our stance was vindicated in an excoriating report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Across 156 pages, it exposes a catalogue of sexual exploitation by paedophiles – including Smith – at homes for vulnerable boys in the town. In an appalling betrayal, the victims were seen as the ‘authors of their own abuse’, it concludes.

The report also confirms what the Mail argued at the time: That politicians, council officials, the police, prosecutors and senior civil servants all knew of allegations that Smith was a dangerous sexual predator, but either swallowed his denials or shamefully turned a blind eye.

As far back as 1969, Smith was investigated by Lancashire Police over abuse of teenage boys – but the then-Director of Public Prosecutions described the claims as ‘completely without corroboration’.

And in 1988, when David Steel – Liberal leader at the time – nominated Smith for a knighthood, a Downing Street official told the honours committee the ex-MP should be given the ‘ benefit of the doubt’. Shockingly, the report concludes the MP was the subject of a ‘frank discussion at the highest levels of British politics’.

But worst of all, in 1998 – just over a decade before Smith’s death – the Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was a ‘realistic prospect’ of securing a conviction for indecent assault, yet took no action.

Given all this damning evidence – and the allegation that his Lib Dem successor in Rochdale burned paperwork about Smith’s crimes – it is clear senior figures in the party have serious questions to answer.

Take Sir Nick Clegg, who delivered a gushing tribute to Smith on his 80th birthday, calling him a ‘beacon’ and an ‘inspiration’. Was he really unaware of allegations circulating in Westminster?

What about Lord Steel, who was Liberal leader in 1979 when a Rochdale newspaper published detailed accusations – and whose office put out a statement at the time claiming the MP had only ‘spanked a few bottoms’?

No, the Lib Dem position – repeated again yesterday – that not a single MP or peer knew anything is simply risible. And it is a grave omission that none of them appear to have been questioned by the inquiry.

The party must now conduct a full investigation of its own, and Lord Steel and Sir Nick should apologise. Smith’s victims deserve nothing less.

It remains an insult to everyone who suffered at his hands that he went to his grave with a knighthood to his name. The rules must be changed urgently so monsters like Smith can be stripped of their honours after their deaths.