£22,000 for ‘Savile victim Nick’ despite a total lack of evidence
the health worker accused of lying about a VIP paedophile ring was paid £22,000 in compensation as a victim of Jimmy Savile despite detectives being unable to stand up his story, a court heard yesterday.
Carl Beech, 51, spoke to detectives from Wiltshire Police in 2012 claiming he had been abused by a paedophile ‘network’ including his late stepfather Major Raymond Beech, Savile, ‘ Saudi royalty’ and other unidentified men.
he did not name any of the high-profile figures he would later say were part of a sex ring leading to the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Midland investigation, which closed without any arrests or charges.
On the fourth day of Beech’s trial, where he denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud, jurors heard his initial report to police in 2012 was closed as ‘undetected’.
Newcastle Crown Court was told detectives did not pursue the investigation because ‘viable lines of enquiry’ had been ‘exhausted’. But Beech applied to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority as a victim of abuse. he later received £22,000 and used some of the money as a cash deposit on a white convertible Ford Mustang.
Detective Sergeant Mark Lewis, of Wiltshire Police, told the court detectives had been ‘ unable to identify any of the people in the group’ mentioned by Beech. he also said the military records of Beech’s stepfather showed no evidence of sexual abuse.
two years later, Beech provided the Metropolitan Police with the names of 12 men who had allegedly abused him in the 1970s and 1980s, including former prime minister edward heath. Under the pseudonym ‘Nick’, he alleged that the group, which included the former heads of MI5 and MI6, had raped, kidnapped and murdered children.
his claims were initially described by a Metropolitan Police detective superintendent as ‘credible and true’.
But prosecutor tony Badenoch QC this week told the jury the allegations were in fact ‘incredible and untrue’. Yesterday, the court heard that by 2013 Beech had begun compiling a 271-page document on a computer memory stick that included the highlighted names of military personnel he would later accuse of being part of the paedophile ring.
he also read articles on a computer provided for his work with the Care Quality Commission on how to claim compensation as a victim of Savile. In 2014, Beech made internet searches for places including the hilton hotel in London’s Park Lane and Dolphin Square, which he would later name as locations of abuse to the Met Police.
Peter Ratliff, prosecuting, said Beech also made internet searches for ‘where do the Saudi royal family stay in London?’ And Beech allegedly read articles about Operation Fernbridge, a police investigation into alleged abuse at the elm Guest house in south-west London, which he would also name as a location of abuse.
the trial continues.