Judge is paid £1,100 a day for VIP sex abuse report
...but we get only a censored version
A RETIRED High Court judge has been paid £66,000 to write a report about Scotland Yard’s shambolic VIP child-sex probe – but the public will get to see only selected findings on the orders of Britain’s most senior policeman.
Sir Richard Henriques is receiving £1,100 a day to conduct a review of Operation Midland, which was commissioned by Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe in February.
Sources with knowledge of his soon-to-be-completed report say it ‘will not be a whitewash’ and will contain damning criticism of the probe into allegations of serial murder and rape made by a suspected fantasist known as Nick.
It is expected to highlight key failures in Operation Midland, which will be hugely embarrassing to Sir Bernard and his senior officers.
But Sir Bernard has insisted he will make only its key findings and recommendations public. This has infuriated relatives and supporters of those falsely accused of rape and murder by Nick, who want the entire dossier released.
Scotland Yard said it expected to receive Sir Richard’s report early next month and that the force was paying the former judge £1,100 a day. It said Sir Richard had clocked up 60 days’ work between February and July.
The final bill for his work – which includes examining other ‘non-recent’ sex investigations into VIPs – is expected to be in the region of £100,000.
Operation Midland, which cost more than £2million, was wound up in March – 15 months after a senior Met officer publicly described Nick’s allegation as ‘credible and true’.
But detectives did not find a shred of evidence to support his extraordinary claims and critics accused Scotland Yard of conducting a ‘disgraceful witch-hunt’.
Hounded war hero Lord Bramall, the 92-year-old former Army chief whose home was raided over Nick’s baseless claims as he ate breakfast with his terminally ill wife, is said to want Sir Richard’s report to be made public.
The widow of former Home Secretary Leon Brittan – investigated by the Met over Nick’s alleged lies – also wants it shared with the public, as does former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, falsely accused of serial rape and murder by the fantasist.
Last night Mr Proctor told the Mail: ‘Despite my and other requests to Sir Bernard and to Sir Richard to publish the report in full so there can be full transparency, it remains a private and personal report with secrecy its main focus.
‘Sir Bernard himself will summarise this report for publication in his own words and for his own purposes.
‘The terms of reference, the retired judge, the format and the publicity surrounding this report were determined by the arch culprit, Sir Bernard. It is not independent of the Met but a part of their PR cover-up trying to whitewash how they wrongly regarded and crassly investigated the allegations of a fantasist, Nick.’
It is understood Sir Richard’s report will address whether the search warrant to raid Lord Bramall’s home was issued lawfully, whether it was necessary for 20 police officers to ransack his home at dawn and also the delays in informing him of the allegations.
The retired judge, who met Lord Brittan’s widow Diana during the summer, is also expected to examine whether it was necessary for the police to raid the Tory peer’s two homes in connection within weeks of his death in January last year.
Scotland Yard said last night: ‘Given the nature of the review it is anticipated the final report will require very thorough consideration to ensure that the publication of any material does not compromise any legal process, responsibilities or duties of care to any party.’
‘Part of their PR cover-up’