18 YEARS FOR HIS VILE LIES
Judge brands fantasist ‘repugnant’ Court told of his ‘attention seeking’ Police accused of encouraging him My husband was denied the dignified death that he deserved
THE fantasist once known as ‘Nick’ was yesterday jailed for 18 years for his ‘hideous and repugnant’ lies about VIP child sex abuse.
Carl Beech, a 51-year-old vicar’s son, was handed an exemplary sentence for his made-up claims about senior politicians and top military and security service officials.
But, passing sentence, Mr Justice Goss described Beech as ‘intelligent, resourceful, manipulative and devious’ and said he appeared to have been encouraged by the police’s willingness to believe him.
There were gasps as the convicted paedophile was told that he had acted out of ‘financial gain, personal pleasure, malice and attention seeking’.
Father- of- one Beech, who showed no emotion as he was led from the dock, could be released after serving half of his 18-year sentence.
The lengthy jail term, which included an unprecedented 15 years for perverting the course of justice, heaped more shame on the Metropolitan Police.
It spent 16 months and millions of pounds probing Beech’s ‘plainly ridiculous’ allegations with Operation Midland. In 2014 the Met had described Beech’s claims of VIP child sex abuse and murder as ‘credible and true’.
The force was heavily criticised in a series of harrowing victim statements by former Armed Forces chief Field Marshal Lord Bramall, ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor, the godson of Sir Edward Heath and Diana Brittan, the widow of former home secretary Leon.
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, who met Beech and publicly urged officers to probe his claims, was also lambasted in testimonies read to Newcastle Crown Court.
In a heart-breaking statement Lady Brittan said the ‘false allegations and smears of the very worst kind’ ruined the final weeks of her cancer-stricken husband’s life.
In her first public comments on the case, she said she felt ‘he was caught up in a totally unjustified witch-hunt which took its toll on both him and me’.
Lady Brittan, who praised the Daily Mail for challenging Beech’s claims, described a comment piece by Mr Watson in a Sunday newspaper, a few days after her husband’s death in January 2015, as very distressing. ‘I was so worried I even had to arrange security for his burial, something no widow should have to do,’ she wrote, as she also recalled the trauma of having her two homes raided by police just after her husband’s death.
In a victim statement read to court by his solicitor, Lord Bramall, 95, said: ‘In service of my Queen and country, I have done all that has been required of me. I can honestly say, however, I was never as badly wounded in all my time in the military as I was by the allegations made by “Nick” that formed the basis of Operation Midland.’
The statement was written last year because Lord Bramall was unsure he would still be alive when Beech’s trial finished. He was too unwell to give evidence.
Beech’s barrister, Collingwood Thompson QC, who defended the former paediatric nurse through a ten- week trial, accepted the core of his allegations – first made to Wiltshire Police – were ‘somewhat incredible’. Tony Badenoch QC, prosecuting, said Beech was responsible for ‘the cynical manipulation of the criminal justice system on an unprecedented scale and perpetrated with unprecedented cruelty and disregard for others’.
Beech enjoyed his ‘celebrity’ status and contact with politicians, journalists and campaigners and ‘derived sexual pleasure by graphically describing the violent sexual abuse of young boys’, he added.
He was jailed for a total of 18 years after being convicted of perverting the course of justice and fraud earlier this week. The sentence included his guilty pleas to possessing and making images of child abuse, voyeurism and jumping bail to Sweden.
Mr Justice Goss said: ‘No doubt you were encouraged by the apparent willingness at that time from the police to accept your account.
‘I have watched the recordings and read the transcripts of your interviews with police in which you tearfully and with fake reticence and professed difficulty made the various allegations.
‘You are a former paediatric nurse, a care quality inspector, chairman of governors at your son’s school. You convinced the counsellor you were using that you were genuine and used her as a buffer between you and the police.’
He said Beech’s accusations besmirched the names of ‘public servants of great integrity and decency’ by accusing them of child rape and murder.
And he spoke of the public cost of the case, saying: ‘The Metropolitan Police had 20 officers a year working full time on this, diverting them from other duties at a time of stretched public resources. It is estimated to have cost £2million and to be added to that are the costs of the Wiltshire Police.’
Beech’s allegations, which included claims he had been taken out of lessons during the 1970s and 1980s to be abused and that he had witnessed three children being murdered at the hands of the invented VIP ring, prompted the Met to launch Operation Midland, which ran from 2014 to 2016 and eventually closed without a single arrest being made.
In a statement that he read to court, Mr Proctor said he had only a ‘feeling of icy contempt’ for Beech, and that his lies had caused ‘ordinary people to revile and despise me’. After sentencing he described Mr Watson as the ‘cheerleader in chief’ for the VIP paedophile ring accuser’s false claims.
The former politician encouraged ex-Met Police commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe to hand back his peerage and to apologise for Operation Midland.
‘Derived sexual pleasure’ ‘You besmirched their names’
AS Carl Beech was jailed for 18 years, the appalling consequences of his lies were laid bare in harrowing victim impact statements...
I EVEN NEEDED SECURITY AT MY HUSBAND’S BURIAL
Diana Brittan, widow of Leon Brittan ‘MY husband always believed in, and upheld, the rule of law and was passionate about fairness in the criminal justice system.
‘He respected the role of the police in our society. And yet, in the last year of his life he had to face, while desperately ill, a series of entirely false allegations and smears of the very worst kind.
‘I felt he was caught up in a totally unjustified witch-hunt which took its toll on both him and me. The impact of these dreadful allegations on the entire global network of anyone caught up in such matters is indescribable, incalculable and unending.
‘It was against this backdrop that we had to deal with the emerging story of Operation Midland, where a very senior Metropolitan officer described the allegations of the defendant in this case, on more than one occasion, as ‘credible and true’.
‘My husband was alone in hospital, terminally ill with cancer, when the allegations were first made public and then, when the BBC interviewed “Nick” and made the story headline news, it went global.
‘On the day of his death, I had to deal with the press outside the front door and in the days that followed I had to face all the press coverage, some of it very distressing, whilst all the time trying to come to terms with my grief.
‘I was so worried I even had to arrange security for his burial, something no widow should have to do. The experience of having my house in London searched by a dozen police officers for 12 hours was traumatizing. The impact of the trial in Newcastle has been for me like a second grief.
‘The reported comments made by the defendant about wanting to inflict extra pain on me and my family were particularly upsetting and hurtful, as were the ludicrous allegations made against my husband.
‘My husband’s name has now been cleared, but he will never know this. As a lawyer, he always believed in the judicial system – as do I, as a former magistrate. But the system has let him and my family down. I have also been asked by Julia Neuberger that the following information from her is presented to the court.’ Baroness Neuberger said: ‘I spent a considerable amount of time with Lord Brittan as his rabbi in his last weeks. He was hugely upset by the allegations.
‘[He told me] that all this made it difficult to concentrate on “getting better”. The effect was a cruel one – he felt desperately ill, cut off from much of his social and business circle, and traduced. It had a powerful effect on a brave man. He was denied the dignified death he deserved.’
I WAS NEVER AS BADLY WOUNDED IN THE MILITARY
Field Marshal Lord Bramall ‘NICK made these devastating and monstrous allegations against me while protected by a cloak of anonymity.
‘Meanwhile everything about me was impugned in the court of public opinion.’ Lord Bramall said he was at home with his wife when the Met executed their search warrant on March 4, 2015.
‘My wife was bed-bound as she suffered with Alzheimer’s disease. When the police first arrived I genuinely had no idea why they were there and welcomed them with the words, “How very nice to see you”. The police proceeded to search my house resulting in us having to move my wife from room to room in her bed while they searched our home.
‘My wife continually asked me what was going on and what I had done. It was very difficult to explain due to the paucity of the information I had been given.
‘What really upset me is this: My record of public service speaks for itself. In service of my Queen and Country I have done all that has been required of me. I have suffered both physically and emotionally as a result and did so without regret or complaint.
‘I thought I could hurt no more. I can honestly say, however, I was never as badly wounded in all my time in the military as I have been by the allegations made by Nick that formed the basis of Operation Midland.’
I HAVE A FEELING OF ICY CONTEMPT
Ex-MP Harvey Proctor ‘THE criminality was intentional and malicious. I have never met him... yet he chose to spread vile and false rumours about me.
‘He knew they would cause ordinary people to revile and despise me. It is plain and obvious to anybody who examines his fanciful stories that they are beyond any possibility of belief.’
‘[The police were] instrumental in making public that I was twice taken into custody about his allegations. There was no evidence whatsoever against me from Mr Beech’s fanciful stories.
‘I lost my home, my job, my peace of mind and it led to the necessity that I leave the country Anguished: Lord Bramall (left), Lord and Lady Brittan (centre), and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor (right) where I had spent my entire life. For Mr Carl Beech I have a feeling of icy contempt.’
OUTLANDISHLY REPELLENT LIES
Lincoln Seligman, Sir Edward Heath’s godson ‘THE accusations of Carl Beech have been allowed to fester for more than five years. Officers appeared to believe Beech when there was absolutely no corroborative evidence for his increasingly ludicrous allegations.
‘He was recklessly encouraged and protected... by [the police] and some opportunist politicians who should be ashamed of themselves. Beech’s more outlandishly repellent accusations were plainly ridiculous but nevertheless they have been maliciously peddled around the world. This has done untold damage to Sir Edward’s reputation, and given the power and longevity of the internet and Twitter, it is unlikely the damage will ever be undone.’
PHYSICALLY SICK AND DISTRESSED
Daniel Janner, QC, son of Greville Janner ‘READING these allegations made me feel physically sick and distressed. False allegations such as this stick like mud, they are vile, they leave a stain which is hard to remove.
‘They have turned our lives round. We have had to fight the injustice as a family of false allegations of Nick and others daily.
‘It is time consuming, it is an all-encompassing battle which is vital for the sake of our children, my grandchildren and justice generally. Public figures are vulnerable to attack, yet the effect of sexual false allegations is to wipe out their good name and work.
‘Beech maintained in this trial that my father raped him in the Carlton Club – it is impossible to describe the hurt that these allegations have had on a family like mine. They are corrosive.’