Hold a second Operation Midland inquiry, Patel told

THE police force that secured the conviction of the fantasist who prompted Operation Midland must investigate Scotland Yard officers, a former judge will tell Priti Patel.

Sir Richard Henriques, whose inquiry helped expose Carl Beech, said Northumbria Police should carry out a second criminal investigation into the conduct of Metropolitan Police officers.

Sir Richard is due to meet the Home Secretary in the coming weeks amid a crisis that threatens to engulf the force.

Yesterday, Ms Patel told the home affairs select committee that “outstanding questions” remained over the Met Police inquiry into false allegations of a VIP child sex abuse ring.

She said she planned to meet Sir Richard “to understand the processes, what has happened, what went wrong”.

Northumbria Police was called in to investigate Beech, who was referred to as “Nick” by Met Police officers during the investigation and subsequently jailed for 18 years for perverting the course of justice and child sex offences.

Sir Richard said yesterday: “I would now urge Priti Patel to bring in Northumbria Police because they know all about the case. The same force that investigated Nick should now investigate the Scotland Yard police officers.”

Detectives are accused of misleading

‘The same force that investigated Nick should investigate the Scotland Yard police officers’

a judge into issuing six search warrants in Feb 2015 for the homes of Lord Bramall, former head of the Army; the late Lord Brittan, former Home Secretary; and Harvey Proctor, an ex-tory MP.

Sir Richard has called for a criminal inquiry into whether officers perverted the course of justice over written statements made to obtain the warrants.

Yesterday, Howard Riddle, the former chief magistrate, repeated Sir Richard’s call, saying officers had ‘misled’ him into authorising the searches.