Now Commander Calamity and Co are in dock again
Met’s failure to probe two more liars is investigated
THE police chief at the centre of the ‘Nick’ scandal is under renewed pressure after an independent inquiry was launched into Scotland Yard’s failure to investigate two criminals who lied about a VIP paedophile ring.
Former deputy assistant commander Steve Rodhouse – ‘gold commander’ of Operation Midland – and the Metropolitan Police were accused of failing to investigate the men known as A and B, who gave accounts that apparently backed up Carl Beech, aka Nick.
The allegation was among eight complaints made by former Tory MP Harvey Proctor over the Met’s shambolic investigation into Beech’s false claims of murder and abuse – accusations levelled at the entirely innocent Mr Proctor.
In a bombshell official review of Operation Midland in 2016, former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques said that A and B had ‘both deliberately lied’. He recommended that ‘offences of attempting to pervert the course of justice be considered’ against them.
But despite Sir Richard’s report being fully accepted by the Met chief at the time, Sir
Bernard Hogan-Howe, the force did not probe them.
It has repeatedly refused to explain why the men, who have shocking criminal records and a history of making false allegations of abuse, were not investigated. One of Mr Proctor’s complaints was passed on to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which recommended an outside force should investigate.
Now, amid claims of a Scotland Yard ‘cover-up’ over Operation Midland, Merseyside Police confirmed yesterday that officers were probing the force’s failure to investigate A and B for criminal offences. The inquiry would look at whether the Met’s decision had been properly recorded, a statement said.
In an email seen by the Mail, an ‘investigating officer’ told Mr Proctor: ‘I have now prepared an investigation plan ... and I am in possession of a number of documents from Operation Midland that will assist me with my investigation.’
The Met – which has fought a rearguard action to protect officers on Midland – said Mr Proctor’s complaint was assessed by its ‘appropriate authority’, which found it was not for Mr Rodhouse to decide to investigate A or B.
The Merseyside force is expected to investigate if he was consulted over the decision not to probe A and B, whose lies prolonged Operation Midland and wasted public money. It is not clear whether investigators plan to interview Mr Rodhouse, who is now second-in-command at the National Crime Agency on a £300,000-a-year package.
In 2017, he was controversially cleared of alleged misconduct in Operation Midland after just three months and without being interviewed by watchdogs.
Sir Richard raised grave concerns about the failure to investigate A and B in his recent open letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, which was published in the Mail last month. She subsequently told MPs that she intended to speak to Sir Richard about Operation Midland.
Sir Richard insists police led by Mr Rodhouse obtained search warrants to raid the homes of VIPs unlawfully, a claim supported by Howard Riddle, the former district judge who granted them.
As part of Operation Midland, Mr Proctor’s home was raided along with those of the former head of the Armed Forces Lord Bramall and former home secretary Lord Brittan. It later emerged that all the claims were based on lies by Beech, who was jailed for 18 years in 2019 for perverting the course of justice and other offences.
Last night Mr Proctor said he hoped the investigation would be ‘full, thorough and transparent’. He added: ‘There should now be a full public inquiry to consider the judges’ comments on Operation Midland.’