Police face Army hero apology call

BRITAIN’S top policeman was last night facing a barrage of calls to personally apologise to war hero Lord Bramall for his ten-month child sex abuse hell.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe was accused of running a ‘Stasi’style police force after Scotland Yard’s bungled investigation into the D-Day veteran ended in fiasco.

The row over the Metropolitan Police’s treatment of the 92-year-old Field Marshal – a former head of the Army – exploded after police revealed late on Friday that there was ‘insufficient’ evidence to charge him.

But Met Commissioner Sir Bernard – set to be awarded a contract extension by the Home Secretary – has no plans to express any regret for the pursuit of the soldier. As

demands for a full apology to Lord Bramall increased: There were calls for abuse fantasists to be prosecuted for wasting police time;

Sources said the shambolic £2million VIP child sex abuse and murder inquiry, Operation Midland, is likely to be wound up before Easter; Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, held on police bail for 12 months over similarly false claims, likened the Met to the ‘KGB’.

Gambaccini said last night: ‘The Metropolitan Police must apologise to the nation’s most decorated war hero. It is unspeakable that a British police force should torment an innocent man for 12 months in a case that is 100 per cent fraud, as happened with me and has happened again with Lord Bramall, without apologising.

‘The British police now enter an innocent man’s home in force, regardless of the time of day or night, seize his possessions and publicise his name in the hope that more people will accuse him.

‘When they fail, as they must and as they have in almost all such cases, they never admit error, they never apologise and they never use the word “innocent”.

‘The Metropolitan Police of Bernard Hogan-Howe stand squarely in the lineage of the KGB and the Stasi. It is unfit for purpose in a just society. It faces only two conceivable futures – root-and-branch reform or disestablishment. The Commissioner himself faces only two possible futures – resignation or the sack.’

Anthony Stansfield, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley – who served under Lord Bramall in the Army – said: ‘The very least Sir Bernard HoganHowe should now do is put his best uniform on, get into his new Range Rover and drive down to Lord Bramall’s house and make a personal apology.’

Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, who has been accused of murder and serial abuse by ‘Nick’ – allegations he fiercely denies – said: ‘I think Sir Bernard should get down on his hands and knees and apologise to Lord Bramall.’

It was at 8.27pm on Friday that Scotland Yard made a dramatic climbdown on the Bramall case, following months of growing fears that the case against him – built on the evidence of a man known by the pseudonym ‘Nick’ – was groundless.

‘Nick’, now regarded by a number of detectives as a Walter Mitty fantasist, had alleged that Lord Bramall, Britain’s most decorated living soldier, abused him at a military base more than 30 years ago.

‘Nick’ has also made separate allegations of triple murder against an Establishment paedophile gang. Despite Nick’s claims not being corroborated, 20 officers raided the war hero’s home last March and spent ten hours rifling through his possessions as his terminally ill wife was ‘shunted’ from room to room. The force has since publicly retreated from its earlier claim that ‘Nick’ was a ‘credible and true’ witness.

Lord Bramall was later interviewed under caution over the allegations.

Yesterday he told the Mail: ‘It’s not for me to say whether there should be an independent inquiry. I think questions should be asked of the police. I get fed up of independent inquiries, they cost a lot of money, go on for years and no one takes much notice.’

Of the letter on Friday informing him he would not be charged, he said: ‘The clearance was a very grudging acceptance… there was no case against me.’

In the letter, the officer in charge of the inquiry, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse, could not bring himself to make it clear there was no evidence and, cruelly, left the door open for a fresh investigation. Last night Mr Rodhouse said: ‘I’ve got nothing to say.’