Watson intervened in four sex abuse cases
Tom Watson, the Labour deputy leader, intervened in four separate sexual abuse cases by sending letters to successive directors of public prosecutions, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. It is likely to raise further concerns about Mr Watson’s interventions in criminal cases, after Lord Macdonald, a former DPP, warned it was “questionable” for an MP to intervene in cases in which there is no constituency connection.
TOM WATSON intervened in four separate sexual abuse cases in letters to successive directors of public prosecutions, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
The Labour deputy leader contacted Alison Saunders, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, and her predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, on five occasions about sexual abuse.
Four of his letters were about individual cases, none of which are understood to have involved constituents. In at least two of the cases the alleged perpetrators have since been formally cleared.
This newspaper has obtained a list showing the full extent of Mr Watson’s correspondence with Ms Saunders and Sir Keir, who is now a member of Labour’s front bench. It includes letters written by Mr Watson about two cases where his involvement is disclosed for the first time today.
It came as it was claimed that Mr Watson only apologised for his role in the controversial police investigation into Lord Brittan because he was told to by Jeremy Corbyn.
The disclosures are likely to raise further concerns about Mr Watson’s interventions in criminal cases, after Lord Macdonald, another former DPP, warned that it was “questionable” for an MP to use their position “to intervene in specific cases in which there is no constituency connection”.
Mr Watson was sharply criticised by the detective who first investigated a rape claim against Lord Brittan for intervening in the case by writing to Sir Keir’s successor Alison Saunders. The list obtained by this newspaper shows that Mr Watson exchanged letters with Sir Keir and Ms Saunders on eight occasions.
The first of the five relating to sexual abuse was sent in March 2013 to Sir Keir on behalf of a friend who had accused a man of sexual assault. The CPS had decided not to proceed with the case but it was subsequently reopened and the man – later found innocent by a jury – was arrested by armed police on an aircraft at Heathrow. The second, written in April 2014, was the letter sent to Ms Saunders demanding a review of the Brittan case.
Lord Brittan was later cleared of the rape allegation against him, but was not told before his death.
The third was a letter that formed part of Mr Watson’s demand in Dec 2014 that a minister be interviewed by police over claims he had sexually abused a 14year-old schoolboy. The minister strongly denied the allegations.
The list discloses that in December 2014 Mr Watson wrote again to Ms Saunders, this time on behalf of the family of an alleged victim of a crime – believed to also relate to sexual abuse.
A fifth letter related to sexual abuse was concerned with a technical issue about abuse of process hearings.
The CPS, which released the list of correspondence to The Telegraph, had said that Mr Watson’s letter about his friend’s case “raised legitimate concerns” about the way it had been handled. A spokesman for Mr Watson said the deputy Labour leader “had acted to ensure procedures were followed”.