An apology is the least this war hero deserves
LORD Bramall is probably Britain’s most illustrious living soldier. Now 92, he is a veteran of the D-Day landings, won the Military Cross, served with distinction in the Middle East and Malaya, and was Chief of General Staff in the Falklands.
But the atrocious paedophile witchhunt to which he has been subjected for the past year has tested even his proven resilience and courage.
Last February, 20 police officers burst into his home in a Hampshire village, spent ten hours raking through private possessions and documents – breaking off only for lunch at the local pub – and traumatised his Alzheimers-stricken, 93-yearold wife. She died four months later.
The trigger for this absurdly heavyhanded assault was a series of grotesque, rambling allegations from a man identified only as ‘Nick’.
He claimed Lord Bramall – along with other establishment figures including Tory grandees Ted Heath and Leon Brittan and the heads of MI5 and MI6 – was involved in a VIP paedophile ring responsible for rape, torture and murder of young boys in the 1970s and 80s. Cursory checks should have exposed the accusations as the stuff of fantasy. There was no corroborating evidence, no bodies and no victim ever identified.
Yet Scotland Yard – driven on by Labour deputy leader Tom Watson in what had all the hallmarks of a political vendetta – described the allegations as ‘credible and true’ and proceeded to drag Lord Bramall’s reputation through the mud.
They have finally abandoned the probe, but not before causing enormous anguish to a great public servant.
Even now they won’t admit the claims were false, saying only that there is ‘insufficient evidence’ for charges. And they have not had the decency to apologise for blighting the twilight years of Lord Bramall’s life.
As the Jimmy Savile scandal so shockingly demonstrated, the police ignored accusations of sexual abuse for decades, especially where celebrities were involved. Doesn’t this case show how wildly they have allowed the pendulum to swing the other way?
Of course they must investigate reports of historic abuse and some have led to high-profile convictions, such as Rolf Harris and TV presenter Stuart Hall.
But don’t the accused also have the right to be considered innocent until proved guilty? Lord Bramall was a victim of police overreaction and prejudice and deserves not only a full apology but a public exoneration.
By indulging false accusers and allowing innocent people to be hounded, the police risk creating a climate of cynicism and disbelief around all historic sex abuse allegations. If that happens, genuine victims will – once again – find it much harder to be believed.