Powell accused of satanic sex abuse in church dossier
DETECTIVES investigating claims of a VIP paedophile sex ring have been passed lurid allegations relating to Enoch Powell.
The late Conservative and Ulster Unionist MP, who was one of the most prominent and divisive politicians of the 20th century, was named in a Church of England review into historic sex abuse.
The claims relate to allegations of satanic rituals, often involving the abuse of children.
Powell is one of several highprofile names passed to Scotland Yard by Paul Butler, the Bishop of Durham, who is l eading the review.
The Bishop has also handed detectives the name of Leo Abse, the flamboyant Welsh MP who died in 2008 aged 91.
Last night, the Church of England confirmed that both names had been passed on to detectives from Operation Fernbridge, a Metropolitan Police inquiry into an alleged Westminster VIP paedophile network.
The Right Rev Butler was given the politicians’ names by Dominic Walker, the former Bishop of Monmouth, who heard the allegations when he was a vicar counselling in the 1980s.
Mr Walker told senior clerics that Abse was named by three abuse survivors whom he counselled when he was a vicar in Brighton in that decade.
He also passed on the names of two former Conservative Cabinet ministers, who have not yet been publicly linked to the scandal.
Mr Walker was questioned by the Right Rev Butler after the discov- ery of a book from 1991 in which he described counselling sessions with adult survivors.
‘A number of survivors independently gave the name of a particular MP being involved,’ he said, adding. ‘I don’t believe there was any collusion in their stories.’
A Church of England spokesman said: ‘The name Enoch Powell was passed to Operation Fernbridge on the instruction of Bishop Paul Butler.’
In 1994, an investigation by the London School of Economics into 84 alleged cases of ‘satanic abuse’ in the UK between 1987 and 1992 found no convincing corroborative evidence.
However, the ongoing scandal over how serial paedophile Jimmy Savile was able to evade detection for decades has meant that institutions are now reporting many more allegations to the police.
The claims against Powell and Abse have emerged amid mounting claims of a paedophile network involving Establishment figures, which was allegedly covered up by Special Branch.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is also looking into claims that officers dropped their inquiries under pressure from powerful individuals.
Various operations have been set up by Scotland Yard to examine the allegations and more than 1,000 people have been questioned by police investigating claims of historic sex abuse.
The huge number of people i nvolved, i ncluding suspects, alleged victims and witnesses, lays bare the scale of the task facing detectives.
Now police are to be given access to secret files held on MPs in the House of Commons archives to help their search for evidence on suspected abusers, i ncluding former Liberal MP Cyril Smith.
Powell’s frontline political career ended in 1968 after he made his ‘rivers of blood’ speech warning about the dangers of uncontrolled immigration.
Tory leader Edward Heath sacked him from the shadow cabinet the following day, although Powell remained a Tory MP until 1974.
He subsequently became an Ulster Unionist MP until 1987
Abse was MP for Pontypool from 1958 to 1983, then Torfaen from 1983 to 1987. He was a prominent early supporter of divorce and homosexual law reform.
Since the church passed on details of its allegations, Operation Fernbridge has been closed and replaced by Operation Athabasca.
‘A number of survivors’