Police action on alleged Janner sex abuse is ‘not imminent’

A DECISION over whether to prosecute Lord Janner over allegations of historic child sex abuse is no closer this week, despite new revelations about the investigation.

Action against the 85-year-old peer is “not imminent”, according to police.

A file was sent by officers to the Crown Prosecution Service in April for consid- eration. A property owned by Lord Janner was searched in December.

The Sunday People revealed last weekend that police had also searched his House of Lords office in March.

A Leicestershire Police spokesman said that “a search warrant was obtained in advance from a Crown Court judge and the search was conducted in accordance with established House of Lords procedures. No arrests or charges have been made, and inquiries continue.”

Greville Janner QC, Lord Janner of Braunstone, was Labour MP for Leicester West for 27 years up to 1997. The father-of-three is founding patron of the Holocaust Educational Trust and a former Board of Deputies president.

The investigation has been linked publicly to the case of one of the country’s most notorious convicted paedo- philes. Frank Beck was given five life sentences in 1991 for sexually abusing boys and girls. Beck, a former Liberal councillor and head of three children’s homes in Leicestershire, died in 1994.

During Beck’s three-month trial, a witness claimed he had been abused by Lord Janner. The politician denied any wrongdoing and addressed the allegations in Parliament himself in December 1991, weeks after Beck’s conviction.

He told MPs he had known the witness, Paul Winston, and tried to help him but claimed Beck and Winston had conspired against him in an attempt to derail the investigation into Beck.

A spokesperson for the CPS said it could not consider charges at this stage as the investigation was ongoing and remained a matter for the police.

LordJanner’slawyersdidnotrespond to a request for a comment this week.