Met Police Commissioner is a ‘dead man walking’ over Bramall case

Accuser ‘Nick’ admitted his mother failed to back the police statement he gave about VIP sex ring attacks

SIR Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, was described as a “dead man walking” last night as he faced calls to resign over his handling of the Lord Bramall case. The country’s most senior police officer will be called before a committee of MPs to be questioned over the “inexplicable” delays in contacting key witnesses which meant that false child abuse claims against Lord Bramall hung over the peer’s head for almost a year.

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that the mother of the man who made the claims against Lord Bramall told police more than nine months ago that her son’s allegations were false.

One of the Met’s most senior officers of recent years said Sir Bernard “has to go” and another said his contract should not be renewed. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a former Cabinet colleague of the late Lord Brittan, who was also accused of child abuse, said: “If he [Sir Bernard] is not big enough to recognise that the Met have behaved badly in these two cases … by failing to acknowledge how worthless the allegations turned out to be, he should not contin- ue as commissioner beyond his current contract. The buck stops with him.”

Meanwhile Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, refused to confirm that Sir Bernard is to be given a year’s

THE mother of the man who accused Lord Bramall of torturing children as part of a VIP paedophile gang told police almost two years ago that his claims were false, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

The elderly woman was interviewed by police at the beginning of their inquiries into allegations by her son, known only as “Nick”, that he had witnessed three children being murdered by the sex abuse ring. The woman, who is a respected member of her community and even has qualifications in child protection, told officers that the events as Nick described them could not have taken place.

Nick told police he suffered multiple injuries that were clearly visible and that his mother must have been aware of them. He alleged he had been ferried to sex parties on a regular basis and abused by such senior figures as Lord Bramall, the former head of the Army, Lord Brittan, the former home secretary, and Sir Edward Heath, the former prime minister.

The disclosure that Nick’s mother failed to corroborate these allegations are contained in a posting on the internet by Nick in May 2014. The post- ing has subsequently been removed but has been passed to The Telegraph.

In the post, Nick wrote of his claim of being abused as a child: “One question mark is whether I forgive my mother. Throughout my childhood, I always as- sumed she knew what was happening, how could she not know.

“How could my mother not see my injuries, how could she let me go with these men. It’s only since I reported some of what happened to the police and they interviewed her that I was told she didn’t know what was going on. I now know the reasons behind this, but I still have trouble accepting it. I no longer blame her, but I can’t quite say that I forgive her just yet.” The admission that his mother failed to back his allegations raises further questions over the police handling of the investigation.

It was reported yesterday that police working for Operation Midland, the unit set up to investigate Nick’s claims, failed to interview key witnesses for at least 10 months, while it also took five months to check some of the most basic facts in the case. Nick’s ex-wife has never been interviewed.

Operation Midland, which has so far cost £2 million, was launched in November 2014 solely on the back of Nick’s allegations and despite the fact no bodies have ever been found.

A month later, the senior detective in charge of the inquiry described the allegations as “credible and true”, a statement retracted in September last year.

It is thought Nick first went to the police claiming he had been abused in early 2014. It is not clear if at that time he made allegations of murder. Among his claims, Nick alleged that Harvey Proctor, the former Conservative MP, had throttled one child in front of him and then attempted to castrate him (Nick), only for Sir Edward to intervene and save his life.

Mr Proctor, 69, has dismissed the allegations as ludicrous and called on Nick to be prosecuted for wasting police time. He was informed he was still being investigated by police in a letter sent last month on the same day police told Lord Bramall he had been cleared.

The decision to drop the investigation into Lord Bramall came 10 months after his home was searched. His wife, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s at the time of the police raid, died in the summer never knowing her husband would be cleared.

It is understood police have been unable to find any witnesses to corroborate Nick’s claims.

Mr Proctor said yesterday: “It is extremely unreasonable that the police have kept me waiting. They want to see how they look before they close down Operation Midland completely.”

‘I still have trouble accepting it. I no longer blame her, but I can’t quite say that I forgive her just yet’