Tom Watson abuse claims
TOM WATSON was warned that claims of a VIP paedophile ring had ‘evidentially turned to jelly’ just months after telling the House of Commons that a network of child abusers had operated at Westminster.
Documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveal Labour’s Deputy Leader was told that police believed accusations made by a convicted fraudster that senior figures had abused boys at a London guest house to be highly questionable.
Despite that, he pursued and perpetuated untrue allegations made against Lord Brittan, the former Home Secretary who died in 2015 before his name could be cleared, and Tory MP Harvey Proctor.
Astonishingly, a year l ater, Watson supported similar claims made by fantasist Carl Beech, who was jailed for 18 years after being convicted last month of perverting the course of justice.
With pressure on Mr Watson to resign over the scandal, an investigation has unearthed a dossier that reveals how:
Mr Watson was warned by a respected child protection expert that police judged claims of VIP child abuse at Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London, to be ‘evidentially like jelly’;
The detective leading that inquiry told a meeting arranged by Mr Watson that a list of highprofile men alleged to have visited the B&B was ‘not reliable’;
An award-winning journalist who was assisting Mr Watson found that Chris Fay, a social worker behind the Elm Guest House claims, had been jailed for fraud in 2011;
Mr Watson was ‘stressed to the max’ when Mr Fay was uninvited from the meeting due to concerns about his credibility.
Last night, high-profile figures whose lives were blighted by Beech’s cruel lies repeated their calls for Mr Watson to quit.
Mr Proctor said: ‘Tom Watson s hould be ashamed t hat he allowed claims and rumours to get completely out of control despite receiving these clear warnings. But Tom Watson is not interested in child sexual abuse, he only cares about advancing his political career.’
Daniel Janner QC, the son of the late Labour peer Lord Janner who was falsely accused by Beech, said: ‘These staggering revelations show that Tom Watson knew the allegations were palpably the work of evil fiction. He