Comment: Brittain has long been rumoured to be a member of a paedophile ring (though technically speaking, child rape network is a more accurate description).
If this guy isn't a child rapist then he is most certainly covering up for those that are still operating with absolute impunity inside the state.
(scroll down for updates)
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Lord Brittan issues statement on alleged Westminster paedophile ring (With Updates)
The Independent
Former Home Secretary Leon Brittan was forced to issue a statement today amid claims he was once briefed about a predatory paedophile network operating in and around Westminster.
The veteran Conservative Cabinet Minister said he asked his Home Officials officials to “look carefully” at a dossier handed to him in the 1980s.
In a statement released through his lawyer, Lord Brittan said he did “not recall being contacted further about these matters”.
The Tory peer was moved to clarify his position after campaigning Labour MP Simon Danczuk yesterday told Parliament that Lord Brittan had been sent a dossier of allegations about paedophiles between 1983 and 1985.
The Rochdale MP, who recently published a book alleging a massive 40-year cover-up of paedophile offences committed by Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith, told the home affairs select committee that he believed politics was the “last refuge of child sex abuse deniers”.
Mr Danczuk repeated his call for a Hillsborough-style inquiry into historical paedophile allegations.
He told the Commons home affairs select committee that he believed a series of home secretaries had questions to answer over what they had heard about allegations of paedophilia in high places.
Mr Danczuk said the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens had written to Lord Brittan, Home Secretary from 1983 to 1985, about paedophiles "operating and networking within and around Westminster"
Read more
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If this guy isn't a child rapist then he is most certainly covering up for those that are still operating with absolute impunity inside the state.
(scroll down for updates)
--------------------------
Lord Brittan issues statement on alleged Westminster paedophile ring (With Updates)
The Independent
Former Home Secretary Leon Brittan was forced to issue a statement today amid claims he was once briefed about a predatory paedophile network operating in and around Westminster.
The veteran Conservative Cabinet Minister said he asked his Home Officials officials to “look carefully” at a dossier handed to him in the 1980s.
In a statement released through his lawyer, Lord Brittan said he did “not recall being contacted further about these matters”.
The Tory peer was moved to clarify his position after campaigning Labour MP Simon Danczuk yesterday told Parliament that Lord Brittan had been sent a dossier of allegations about paedophiles between 1983 and 1985.
The Rochdale MP, who recently published a book alleging a massive 40-year cover-up of paedophile offences committed by Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith, told the home affairs select committee that he believed politics was the “last refuge of child sex abuse deniers”.
Mr Danczuk repeated his call for a Hillsborough-style inquiry into historical paedophile allegations.
He told the Commons home affairs select committee that he believed a series of home secretaries had questions to answer over what they had heard about allegations of paedophilia in high places.
Mr Danczuk said the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens had written to Lord Brittan, Home Secretary from 1983 to 1985, about paedophiles "operating and networking within and around Westminster"
Read more
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BBC News | Home Office under fire over 'lost' paedophile dossier:
The Home Office is facing calls to explain why a 1980s dossier about alleged paedophiles at Westminster was "destroyed" by officials.
Lord Brittan passed concerns in it to the relevant authorities, but the file itself was not kept.
Labour MP Simon Danczuk said it may contain evidence that would identify child sex abusers.
The Home Office said a 2013 review found the "credible" elements of the dossier which had "realistic potential" for further investigation were sent to police and prosecutors while other elements were either not retained, or were destroyed.
In an earlier version of this story, we reported that the Home Office had launched a trawl for the missing dossier, but this had in fact already been carried out - even though most people, including Lord Brittan himself, appear to have been unaware of it.
Simon Danczuk had been pressing Lord Brittan to reveal what he knew about the dossier's contents - and for the Home Office to publish it in full - when officials released a statement saying they had already carried out a review that had found it had not been retained.
'Little fanfare'
A Home Office spokesman said Lord Brittan had not been contacted by the team who were conducting the review of old Home Office files, records and other papers to find out "what action was taken in respect of any material received".
But the team had found a letter from Lord Brittan to the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens, dated March 1984, which said some of the concerns he had raised about alleged abuse had been passed to the director of public prosecutions, who had passed them on to the police to investigate.
The review found that Lord Brittan had acted appropriately in dealing with allegations and it had "found no evidence of Mr Dickens expressing dissatisfaction about the action taken in respect of the information he had passed on".
Mr Danczuk told BBC News he also had been unaware of the review, a summary of which was published last year - but said it raised more questions than it answered.
"They must have published the review with little fanfare and people will ask why that would be the case," he told BBC News.
He called on the Home Office to reveal the outcome of any police investigations that may have resulted from the information in the dossier.
'Last refuge'
He added: "Why would you destroy such an important document? What action was taken? Were any prosecutions forthcoming? We need to know this. It's raising more questions than it is answers."
Downing Street rejected calls to publish the review in full. The prime minister's official spokesman said: "The executive summaries fully reflect the work that was done."
Read more
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UPDATE July 4th:
Pressure mounts over file on alleged Westminster paedophile ring
The Independent
The Government is facing questions over the disappearance of a dossier detailing an alleged paedophile ring operating within Westminster.
Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, has written to the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office asking what happened to a file circulating within Whitehall during the Eighties that detailed a number of VIPs who allegedly abused children. The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg rejected calls for a Hillsborough-style inquiry into historic child sex abuse allegations yesterday, saying the police should be in charge of getting to the bottom of what happened to vulnerable children in care homes.
The former Home Secretary Leon Brittan admitted receiving a file containing allegations of a child abuse network. He said he was given the file by the late Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983 and launched an investigation into the claims. But no action was taken and the dossier has now disappeared, according to the Home Office.
The son of Mr Dickens told the BBC his father claimed the file would “blow the lid off” the lives and the powerful.
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See also: Leon Brittain: The Bigger Picture
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UPDATE July 5th:
Demand for David Cameron to order' comprehensive and over-arching' probe into historic child abuse allegations
The Independent
The disappearance of a dossier which detailed alleged paedophile activity by government officials has led to further calls on David Cameron to stage a fuller and more in-depth investigation into historic child abuse within Westminster.
The campaigning MP Geoffrey Dickens handed the “explosive” file to the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan in 1983. He had reportedly told his family that it would “blow the lid off” the lives of the most well-known and influential child abusers.
The Prime Minister has now asked Home Office Permanent Secretary Mark Sedwill to stage a fresh probe into what happened to the report, after a 2013 investigation concluded that it had not been “retained”.
Shadow Home Sectary Yvette Cooper said the Prime Minister’s latest dossier review does not go far enough, instead calling for an “over-arching” and “comprehensive” investigation into all allegations.
"The Prime Minister is right to intervene to demand a proper investigation into the allegations of child abuse not being acted upon by the Home Office, because we have not had answers from the Home Secretary," she said.
"The Prime Minister should ensure that the action now taken by the Home office amounts to a proper investigation into what happened and also that Theresa May publish the full review conducted in 2013.
Geoffrey Dickens campaigned against a suspected pedophile ring "We also need assurance that the police have been given full information now and are investigating any abuse allegations or crimes that may have been committed.
"The Prime Minister should also establish an over-arching review led by child protection experts to draw together the results from all these different case, investigations and institutional inquiries.
Mr Dickens’ son, Barry, has told the BBC that his father, who died in 1995, would have been “hugely angered, disappointed and frustrated” if he knew that his revelations had not been acted upon.
He said: “My father thought that the dossier at the time was the most powerful thing that had ever been produced, with the names that were involved and the power that they had.”
Barry also went on to detail how the burglaries of his father’s London flat and constituency home in Greater Manchester following the allegations amounted to nothing being taken.
"They weren't burglaries," he said. "They were break-ins for a reason. We can only presume they were after something that Dad had that they wanted."
Labour MP Simon Danczuk was one of a handful of MPs calling on the Home Office to revisit the lost dossier’s whereabouts and the information contained within it.
He told the Commons Home Affairs Committee that there needs to be full public inquiry.
"The Prime Minister knows that there is a growing sense of public anger about allegations of historic abuse involving senior politicians and his statement represents little more than a damage limitation exercise. It doesn't go far enough.
"The public has lost confidence in these kind of official reviews, which usually result in a whitewash. The only way to get to the bottom of this is a thorough public inquiry."
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UPDATE July 7th
Westminster child abuse dossier exclusive: Geoffrey Dickens also gave copy of file to top prosecutor Sir Thomas Hetherington - so why did DPP also fail to act on evidence of paedophile ring
The Independent
[...]
Last week David Cameron ordered an investigation into how it came to be lost by the Home Office, which has since confirmed that 114 files relating to historical complaints of child abuse have either been misplaced or destroyed.
Two copies of the dossier were previously thought to have existed: one was handed to Leon Brittan, Home Secretary at the time, while the other was kept at Mr Dickens’s family home and was later destroyed by his wife.
But in a newspaper interview in August 1983 – two months into Leon Brittan’s term as Home Secretary under Margaret Thatcher – Mr Dickens revealed he had also sent a copy to the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Sir Thomas Hetherington.
On Monday the Home Secretary Theresa May is due to make a statement on the affair in the House of Commons. She is likely to come under pressure to explain how two government agencies were able to “lose” the dossier. She may also be asked to reveal whether a previous Home Office trawl of its records included files held by security services.
Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative cabinet minister, said on Sunday there “may well” have been a cover-up over a powerful child abuse ring. “At that time I think most people would have thought that the establishment, the system, was to be protected and if a few things had gone wrong it was more important to protect the system than to delve too far into it,” he told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.
Asked if he thought there had been a “political cover-up” in the 1980s, he replied: “I think there may well have been. But it was almost unconscious. It was the thing that people did at that time.”
Comment: What an incredible statement. This pretty much sums up Establishment minions and their totally pathological worldview.
More on Tibbet's twisted views on reality HERE
Read more
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Leon Brittan 'questioned by police over historical rape claim'
The Guardian
Leon Brittan, the former home secretary, was questioned by police last month over a historical allegation of rape, it was claimed on Saturday night.
Detectives were said to be investigating an allegation that Brittan, who was not an MP at the time of the alleged incident, assaulted a woman at an address in London in 1967. The Metropolitan police said: "A man aged in his seventies was interviewed under caution by appointment at a central London location in connection with the allegation. He was not arrested." The woman was over the age of 18 at the time of the alleged incident.
It is understood that Brittan strongly denied the allegation. The Independent on Sunday said he refused to comment on the claim. It quoted him saying: "I'm sorry I am not going to be able to talk about something like that."
The allegation against Brittan is not connected to separate claims involving a dossier compiled by an MP detailing allegations of a 1980s Westminster paedophile ring that was given to Brittan when he was home secretary.
On Sunday it emerged that the dossier is one of more than 100 potentially relevant Home Office files destroyed, lost or missing.
The government is under pressure to carry out an inquiry into historical cases of paedophilia following the revelation that a total of 114 Home Office files relevant to allegations of a child abuse network have disappeared from government records.
David Cameron has already ordered the Home Office permanent secretary to look into what happened to the lost dossier which was given to Brittan, then home secretary, by the campaigning Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in the 1980s.
The revelation that further relevant documents have disappeared will raise fresh fears of an establishment cover-up.
Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale, who is calling for an overarching national inquiry into historical child abuse, said: "I had absolutely no idea that these other files were also missing. The public view will be that there is something fishy going on. The public will understandably think that these documents have gone missing because it helps to protect the names of those identified in them. That is the conclusion that many will come to, and who could blame them?"
Tom Watson, the Labour MP who was central to the uncovering of the phone-hacking scandal, said it was increasingly clear than only a Hillsborough-style inquiry would reassure the public. He said: "Only an overarching inquiry will get to the facts, everything else the government says or does on this is a diversion."
Dickens, who died in 1995, had told his family that the information he handed to the home secretary in 1983 and 1984 would "blow the lid off" the lives of powerful and famous child abusers, including eight well-known figures.
In a letter to Dickens at the time, Brittan suggested that his information would be passed to the police, but Scotland Yard says it has no record of any investigation into the allegations.
Yesterday the Home Office made public a letter to Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, in which the department confirmed that correspondence from Dickens had not been retained and that it had found "no record of specific allegations by Mr Dickens of child sex abuse by prominent public figures".
The Home Office's permanent secretary, Mark Sedwill, admitted, however, that a further 114 documents relevant to allegations of child abuse were missing from the department's records. That discovery was made last year by an independent review into information received about organised child sex abuse but was not published in its report.
Comment: Extraordinarily convenient.
Sedwill told Vaz that the missing documents were some of the 36,000 records which officials presumed were lost, destroyed or missing. They were not part of the 278,000 documents the Home Office destroyed as part of its "retention and destruction" policy. However, Sedwill told Vaz in a letter published yesterday that the department had found "no evidence of the inappropriate removal or destruction of material".
He also wrote to the prime minister to tell him that he would engage a senior independent legal figure to assess whether last year's conclusions "remain sound".
Detectives were said to be investigating an allegation that Brittan, who was not an MP at the time of the alleged incident, assaulted a woman at an address in London in 1967. The Metropolitan police said: "A man aged in his seventies was interviewed under caution by appointment at a central London location in connection with the allegation. He was not arrested." The woman was over the age of 18 at the time of the alleged incident.
It is understood that Brittan strongly denied the allegation. The Independent on Sunday said he refused to comment on the claim. It quoted him saying: "I'm sorry I am not going to be able to talk about something like that."
The allegation against Brittan is not connected to separate claims involving a dossier compiled by an MP detailing allegations of a 1980s Westminster paedophile ring that was given to Brittan when he was home secretary.
On Sunday it emerged that the dossier is one of more than 100 potentially relevant Home Office files destroyed, lost or missing.
The government is under pressure to carry out an inquiry into historical cases of paedophilia following the revelation that a total of 114 Home Office files relevant to allegations of a child abuse network have disappeared from government records.
David Cameron has already ordered the Home Office permanent secretary to look into what happened to the lost dossier which was given to Brittan, then home secretary, by the campaigning Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in the 1980s.
The revelation that further relevant documents have disappeared will raise fresh fears of an establishment cover-up.
Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale, who is calling for an overarching national inquiry into historical child abuse, said: "I had absolutely no idea that these other files were also missing. The public view will be that there is something fishy going on. The public will understandably think that these documents have gone missing because it helps to protect the names of those identified in them. That is the conclusion that many will come to, and who could blame them?"
Tom Watson, the Labour MP who was central to the uncovering of the phone-hacking scandal, said it was increasingly clear than only a Hillsborough-style inquiry would reassure the public. He said: "Only an overarching inquiry will get to the facts, everything else the government says or does on this is a diversion."
Dickens, who died in 1995, had told his family that the information he handed to the home secretary in 1983 and 1984 would "blow the lid off" the lives of powerful and famous child abusers, including eight well-known figures.
In a letter to Dickens at the time, Brittan suggested that his information would be passed to the police, but Scotland Yard says it has no record of any investigation into the allegations.
Yesterday the Home Office made public a letter to Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, in which the department confirmed that correspondence from Dickens had not been retained and that it had found "no record of specific allegations by Mr Dickens of child sex abuse by prominent public figures".
The Home Office's permanent secretary, Mark Sedwill, admitted, however, that a further 114 documents relevant to allegations of child abuse were missing from the department's records. That discovery was made last year by an independent review into information received about organised child sex abuse but was not published in its report.
Comment: Extraordinarily convenient.
Sedwill told Vaz that the missing documents were some of the 36,000 records which officials presumed were lost, destroyed or missing. They were not part of the 278,000 documents the Home Office destroyed as part of its "retention and destruction" policy. However, Sedwill told Vaz in a letter published yesterday that the department had found "no evidence of the inappropriate removal or destruction of material".
He also wrote to the prime minister to tell him that he would engage a senior independent legal figure to assess whether last year's conclusions "remain sound".
-------------------------------------------
Westminster paedophile ring allegations: Scotland Yard detectives trace 'victim'
The Telegraph
Scotland Yard has tracked down a child at the centre of an alleged 1980s Westminster paedophile ring who has implicated a senior political figure, The Telegraph can disclose.
The man - now in his 40s, whose identity is known to this newspaper - is a successful entrepreneur based in the United States and has given a detailed account of how he was assaulted by the politician.
However, the alleged victim - who was initially willing to co-operate - has so far refused to make a formal statement to British detectives.
Police have traced a copy of a statement he gave more than 30 years ago as a child when he was rescued from horrific sexual assault. His version of events is understood to be corroborated by a detective who conducted the official interview with the child at the time.
Downing Street has confirmed Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will make a statement on the Government’s handling of the wider allegations later.
Comment: I hope this man has round the clock protection because prior to a tipping point - if it ever gets to that level of detection - he's in quite a bit of danger.
It came as an MP who has played a leading role in disclosing allegations of sex abuse in Westminster called for a wide-ranging amnesty for police officers who were blocked from investigating allegations in the past.
Simon Danczuk, a Labour backbencher, said an amnesty would help resolve whether paedophiles in the heart of government had been the subject of a high-level cover up.
At least one former detective has told Mr Danczuk he had been forced to sign a gagging order about his role investigating alleged paedophiles in the government, and was frightened of the legal consequences of speaking openly about what he knew.
Between 20 and 30 new informants have come forward in less than a week since Mr Danczuk made major new allegations to a House of Commons committee about a dossier - said to have contained details of at least eight prominent paedophiles - which was handed to the Home Office in the 1980s.
Amid concerns that Scotland Yard has not assigned enough manpower to ongoing sex abuse inquiries, Mr Danczuk said: “I think what we need to do is create an amnesty for former police officers and other people in authority, including border guards, probation staff and social workers.
“If they are concerned about the implications of having signed any documents, including the Official Secrets Act, there should be an amnesty that will allow them to come forward and share their experience of investigating historic child sex abuse cases, so we can build up a more thorough picture of what went on at the time and potentially prosecute some of the alleged offenders.
“We have had lots of people get in touch including ex-police officers. I spoke to one former officer who said he had signed a gagging order, and I am not surprised by this. Many of these people are worried about the implications for themselves if they come forward, and worried about their pensions and so on.”
The new developments emerged after Scotland Yard confirmed that Lord (Leon) Brittan, the former home secretary, had been questioned under caution in a separate inquiry relation to an alleged rape of a woman aged over 18.
The Telegraph can disclose officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Fernbridge - launched in February last year to examine allegations of a paedophile ring involving prominent figures - have closely examined the case of the eight-year-old alleged victim.
Police are understood to have sent a United States investigator to interview the victim of alleged abuse at Elm Guest House, in Barnes, south-west London, who is now a successful businessman in his early 40s in the east coast US.
A US law enforcement officer, who had recently returned home after concluding a secondment to the Fernbridge team, was asked to interview the man on Scotland Yard’s behalf earlier this year.
The alleged victim is understood to have named the senior figure. During his original interview in 1982 the child referred to his abuser working at “the big house”, which detectives believe was the Houses of Parliament.
The US officer reported back to Scotland Yard that the alleged victim was “ready to spill the beans” and advised them to travel to America immediately to conduct a formal interview.
But by the time travel plans had been arranged, the man had changed his mind for unknown reasons and refused to co-operate, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Fernbridge detectives also interviewed a retired police officer who was involved in the original Elm Guest House investigation and who interviewed the alleged victim at the time.
This newspaper understands the retired detective was reluctant to go into detail about why information about the politician was not included into witness statements at the time or submitted into evidence as part of a potential prosecution.
His reluctance, which appears to reinforce the case for an amnesty, is understood to have stemmed from the policeman’s fear that he could face disciplinary action, or other legal implications, or lose his pension.
Following a series of high-profile prosecutions of celebrities for historic sex offences, the revelations will intensify pressure on David Cameron, the Prime Minister, and Mrs May to launch a full inquiry into the claims that child sex abuse by politicians was ignored for decades.
Mr Danczuk last week challenged Lord Brittan to reveal what he knew about a 40-page dossier handed to the Home Office in the 1980s by a Conservative MP, Geoffrey Dickens, which is believed to have named a number of paedophile politicians.
Just a few days later it emerged that Lord Brittan had himself been questioned by police under caution in relation to an alleged rape which is said to have taken place at his central London flat following a blind date with the woman in 1967.
Read more
Comment: I hope this man has round the clock protection because prior to a tipping point - if it ever gets to that level of detection - he's in quite a bit of danger.
It came as an MP who has played a leading role in disclosing allegations of sex abuse in Westminster called for a wide-ranging amnesty for police officers who were blocked from investigating allegations in the past.
Simon Danczuk, a Labour backbencher, said an amnesty would help resolve whether paedophiles in the heart of government had been the subject of a high-level cover up.
At least one former detective has told Mr Danczuk he had been forced to sign a gagging order about his role investigating alleged paedophiles in the government, and was frightened of the legal consequences of speaking openly about what he knew.
Between 20 and 30 new informants have come forward in less than a week since Mr Danczuk made major new allegations to a House of Commons committee about a dossier - said to have contained details of at least eight prominent paedophiles - which was handed to the Home Office in the 1980s.
Amid concerns that Scotland Yard has not assigned enough manpower to ongoing sex abuse inquiries, Mr Danczuk said: “I think what we need to do is create an amnesty for former police officers and other people in authority, including border guards, probation staff and social workers.
“If they are concerned about the implications of having signed any documents, including the Official Secrets Act, there should be an amnesty that will allow them to come forward and share their experience of investigating historic child sex abuse cases, so we can build up a more thorough picture of what went on at the time and potentially prosecute some of the alleged offenders.
“We have had lots of people get in touch including ex-police officers. I spoke to one former officer who said he had signed a gagging order, and I am not surprised by this. Many of these people are worried about the implications for themselves if they come forward, and worried about their pensions and so on.”
The new developments emerged after Scotland Yard confirmed that Lord (Leon) Brittan, the former home secretary, had been questioned under caution in a separate inquiry relation to an alleged rape of a woman aged over 18.
The Telegraph can disclose officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Fernbridge - launched in February last year to examine allegations of a paedophile ring involving prominent figures - have closely examined the case of the eight-year-old alleged victim.
Police are understood to have sent a United States investigator to interview the victim of alleged abuse at Elm Guest House, in Barnes, south-west London, who is now a successful businessman in his early 40s in the east coast US.
A US law enforcement officer, who had recently returned home after concluding a secondment to the Fernbridge team, was asked to interview the man on Scotland Yard’s behalf earlier this year.
The alleged victim is understood to have named the senior figure. During his original interview in 1982 the child referred to his abuser working at “the big house”, which detectives believe was the Houses of Parliament.
The US officer reported back to Scotland Yard that the alleged victim was “ready to spill the beans” and advised them to travel to America immediately to conduct a formal interview.
But by the time travel plans had been arranged, the man had changed his mind for unknown reasons and refused to co-operate, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Fernbridge detectives also interviewed a retired police officer who was involved in the original Elm Guest House investigation and who interviewed the alleged victim at the time.
This newspaper understands the retired detective was reluctant to go into detail about why information about the politician was not included into witness statements at the time or submitted into evidence as part of a potential prosecution.
His reluctance, which appears to reinforce the case for an amnesty, is understood to have stemmed from the policeman’s fear that he could face disciplinary action, or other legal implications, or lose his pension.
Following a series of high-profile prosecutions of celebrities for historic sex offences, the revelations will intensify pressure on David Cameron, the Prime Minister, and Mrs May to launch a full inquiry into the claims that child sex abuse by politicians was ignored for decades.
Mr Danczuk last week challenged Lord Brittan to reveal what he knew about a 40-page dossier handed to the Home Office in the 1980s by a Conservative MP, Geoffrey Dickens, which is believed to have named a number of paedophile politicians.
Just a few days later it emerged that Lord Brittan had himself been questioned by police under caution in relation to an alleged rape which is said to have taken place at his central London flat following a blind date with the woman in 1967.
Read more
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UPDATE July 7th
Westminster child abuse exclusive: Geoffrey Dickens also gave copy of file to top prosecutor Sir Thomas Hetherington - so why did DPP also fail to act on evidence of paedophile ring?
The Independent
Fears over an establishment cover-up of an alleged Westminster paedophile ring in the 1980s deepened on Sunday night as it emerged that an “explosive” dossier of evidence lost by the Home Office was also handed to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The file, believed to contain child abuse allegations relating to at least eight public figures, was compiled by the campaigning Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, who died in 1995.
Last week David Cameron ordered an investigation into how it came to be lost by the Home Office, which has since confirmed that 114 files relating to historical complaints of child abuse have either been misplaced or destroyed.
Two copies of the dossier were previously thought to have existed: one was handed to Leon Brittan, Home Secretary at the time, while the other was kept at Mr Dickens’s family home and was later destroyed by his wife.
But in a newspaper interview in August 1983 – two months into Leon Brittan’s term as Home Secretary under Margaret Thatcher – Mr Dickens revealed he had also sent a copy to the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Sir Thomas Hetherington.
On Monday the Home Secretary Theresa May is due to make a statement on the affair in the House of Commons. She is likely to come under pressure to explain how two government agencies were able to “lose” the dossier. She may also be asked to reveal whether a previous Home Office trawl of its records included files held by security services.
Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative cabinet minister, said on Sunday there “may well” have been a cover-up over a powerful child abuse ring. “At that time I think most people would have thought that the establishment, the system, was to be protected and if a few things had gone wrong it was more important to protect the system than to delve too far into it,” he told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.
Read more
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May 'to outline wide-ranging child abuse inquiry'
BBC newsTheresa May is to outline plans for a "wide-ranging" inquiry, led by an expert panel, into historical child sex abuse claims, the BBC understands.
The inquiry would be held in public but evidence would not be given under oath.
The home secretary will also tell MPs about a separate review of whether her department failed to act on claims of a paedophile ring in the 1980s.
Mrs May's statement to MPs is expected at 15:30 BST.
The home secretary is also set to announce a review into public bodies and their duty of care towards children.
Prime Minister David Cameron said there would be "no stone unturned" by the probe into how institutions handled allegations of child abuse, adding that it was "vital" to find out the truth of what happened and to learn lessons.
Peter Saunders, child abuse charity:: "I'm aware of individuals alleging such a crime"
"People can be absolutely clear, these are very, very serious matters, we take them very seriously, we want to get to the truth and nothing but the truth, and we will do it in an independent and authoritative way.
Read more
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UPDATE July 8th
Westminster abuse inquiries: At least 10 famous politicians ‘named again and again’ by child abuse helpline callers
The Independent
Child protection campaigners say at least 10 “famous” current and former politicians will now face being investigated over allegations of historic abuse.
The figures, including a number who are now dead, have been identified “again and again” by callers to child abuse helplines, it has been claimed.
It comes as Theresa May announced an independent inquiry will look into how the state and other institutions have handled accusations of abuse over the past four decades.
Dr Jon Bird, of the National Association for People Abused In Childhood (Napac), said it looked like the 10 politicians will “at last” face up to the accusations – and warned that he expected more allegations to follow.
He told Sky News: “The names of people in very high places - politicians, senior police officers and even some judges - have been going around as alleged abusers for a very long time.
Read more
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Lady Butler-Sloss to lead child abuse inquiry
Retired judge chaired Cleveland abuse inquiry in the late 1980s and was praised for her even-handed approach
The Guardian
Lady Butler-Sloss, the retired senior judge who chaired the Cleveland child abuse inquiry in the late 1980s, has been appointed by the home secretary, Theresa May, to chair the new public inquiry into the handling of child abuse allegations by public institutions.
The former president of the family division of the high court, who coined the phrase "listen to the children" in her Cleveland report, said she was honoured to be asked to carry out "this important work".
May announced in a statement to MPs on Monday that a public inquiry would be held to highlight past failures to protect children from abuse. The inquiry will have a wide-ranging remit to examine "whether public bodies and other non-state institutions" took seriously their duty of care to protect children, the home secretary said.
Butler-Sloss, 80, said: "I'm honoured to have been invited to lead this inquiry. The next step is to appoint the panel and agree the terms of reference. We will begin this important work as soon as possible."
May said: "In recent years, we have seen appalling cases of organised and persistent child sex abuse that have exposed serious failings by public bodies and important institutions. That is why the government has established an independent panel of experts to consider whether these organisations have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse."
The Cleveland inquiry in 1980s was established after 121 children were taken into care amid suspicions that their parents had abused them. Butler-Sloss was praised for her even-handed approach to the inquiry after paediatricians in Middlesbrough diagnosed a series of cases of child abuse.
In her report, Butler-Sloss said children should be treated as people rather than objects of concern.
She recommended that adults should explain what was going on when children were being examined for signs of abuse, and that children should not be subject to repeated examinations.
The findings of the Cleveland report were incorporated in the Children Act of 1989.
On Tuesday a former health minister said powerful people in the 1980s targeted children's homes which served as a "supply line" for paedophiles.
Lord Warner, a health minister in 2003-07 who conducted an inquiry into child abuse in Birmingham in 1992, described the sexual abuse of children as a "power drive".
Warner told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: "Some of these children's homes were targeted by people in power, powerful people. Indeed, sexual abuse of children is a power drive. That's what a lot of it is about.
"It is possible that people who were authoritative, powerful in particular communities did sometimes have access to children's homes. We know for historical purposes that children's homes were a supply line sometimes."
The former president of the family division of the high court, who coined the phrase "listen to the children" in her Cleveland report, said she was honoured to be asked to carry out "this important work".
May announced in a statement to MPs on Monday that a public inquiry would be held to highlight past failures to protect children from abuse. The inquiry will have a wide-ranging remit to examine "whether public bodies and other non-state institutions" took seriously their duty of care to protect children, the home secretary said.
Butler-Sloss, 80, said: "I'm honoured to have been invited to lead this inquiry. The next step is to appoint the panel and agree the terms of reference. We will begin this important work as soon as possible."
May said: "In recent years, we have seen appalling cases of organised and persistent child sex abuse that have exposed serious failings by public bodies and important institutions. That is why the government has established an independent panel of experts to consider whether these organisations have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse."
The Cleveland inquiry in 1980s was established after 121 children were taken into care amid suspicions that their parents had abused them. Butler-Sloss was praised for her even-handed approach to the inquiry after paediatricians in Middlesbrough diagnosed a series of cases of child abuse.
In her report, Butler-Sloss said children should be treated as people rather than objects of concern.
She recommended that adults should explain what was going on when children were being examined for signs of abuse, and that children should not be subject to repeated examinations.
The findings of the Cleveland report were incorporated in the Children Act of 1989.
On Tuesday a former health minister said powerful people in the 1980s targeted children's homes which served as a "supply line" for paedophiles.
Lord Warner, a health minister in 2003-07 who conducted an inquiry into child abuse in Birmingham in 1992, described the sexual abuse of children as a "power drive".
Warner told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: "Some of these children's homes were targeted by people in power, powerful people. Indeed, sexual abuse of children is a power drive. That's what a lot of it is about.
"It is possible that people who were authoritative, powerful in particular communities did sometimes have access to children's homes. We know for historical purposes that children's homes were a supply line sometimes."
-----------------------------
UPDATE July 9th
Westminster abuse inquiry: Calls for ‘establishment figure’ Baroness Butler-Sloss to stand down as chair of paedophile probe
The Independent
MPs and lawyers are leading calls for the former judge chosen to lead the inquiry into an alleged Westminster child abuse cover-up to stand down over her connections to the establishment of the time.
Baroness Butler-Sloss was appointed yesterday by Theresa May to chair an investigative panel looking into how institutions like the Government, the NHS, the church and the BBC handled allegations of paedophilia within their ranks.
But the Home Office has been forced to defend its choice after some politicians said the peer was tainted by the fact that her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was Attorney General at the time of the alleged abuses in the 1980s.
Sir Michael, father of the actor Nigel Havers, faced criticism at the time after he reportedly tried to stop Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens from using parliamentary privilege to name diplomat Sir Peter Hayman as a paedophile.
MPs have also raised concerns about Lady Butler-Sloss’s age – she will be 81 in August – and the fact that she is herself a member of the political establishment. She joined the House of Lords following her retirement as a High Court judge.
Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP who has played a leading role in bringing about the inquiry announced by the Home Secretary at the start of this week, said Lady Butler-Sloss was the wrong person for the job and that she should “consider her position”.
He told the BBC: “She’s part of the establishment and that raises concerns and the relationship in terms of her brother, I think, is too close for comfort. I think that’s the conclusion most people will reach.”
Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale, and Lord Brittan, the former Home Secretary Mr Danczuk drew particular attention to the link to the late Mr Dickens, whose so-called “dossier” of allegations about paedophile politicians was passed to the then-Home Secretary Leon Brittan and the DPP but has since disappeared.
He said: “I find it quite surprising that neither she nor the government realised that her relationship with her brother was connected with Geoffrey Dickens and all this palaver around it. It beggars belief that that hadn’t been considered in the first place.
“But she also sits in the House of Lords. Some of the people who may be accused of this type of abuse may sit in the House of Lords alongside her. That doesn't look good to the wider public.”
Keith Vaz, the chair of the Commons home affairs committee, said he was ““surprised that the Government has chosen a Member of the House of Lords no matter how distinguished to head the inquiry”.
He said: “She is a member of Parliament and is very closely related to a former Lord Chancellor.”
The Conservative MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Commons health committee, tweeted: “Not doubting her integrity but hard to see why Baroness Butler Sloss would want to accept a role so many regard as conflicted at the outset.”
And Alison Millar, head of the abuse team at the law firm Leigh Day which is representing alleged victims of abuse related to the inquiry, said there can be “no shadows of doubt cast by links to allegations of an establishment cover-up”.
“Whilst Lady Butler-Sloss is a person of enormous integrity the concern really is that she is just too close to the establishment and in particular concern over her her family connection to Sir Michael Havers,” she said.
“Justice must be seen to be done by those who are understandably the most reticent to come forward, those who have survived abuse.
“The panel needs to be reconsidered and must involve those working in the area of child abuse as well as survivors of abuse now working in that area.”
Lady Butler-Sloss, a former president of the Family Division of the High Court and chair of the Cleveland Child Abuse Inquiry, told the BBC she “knew absolutely nothing” about her brother’s role in the 1980s paedophile controversy.
She said: “If people think I am not suitable then that's up to them.”
The Home Office also stood by the appointment, reportedly describing the former judge as “a person of impeccable credentials”.
Downing Street said Ms May and Lady Butler-Sloss would be announcing the wider probe's terms of reference and panel members “within days rather than weeks”.
On the calls for the peer to stand down, the Prime Minister's spokesman said: “It is the very wide respect that her professional expertise as well as her personal integrity commands that makes her a very strong appointment for this role. It is the width and breadth of her experience that counts.”
-----------------------------------
Labour peer escapes probe over 20 child sex claims because he is 'suffering dementia'
------------------------------------
UPDATE July 10th
Abuse victim: 'Baroness Butler-Sloss the wrong person'
BBC News
A man abused by a paedophile priest in Sussex says Baroness Butler-Sloss is the wrong person to lead an inquiry into how public bodies dealt with allegations of child abuse.
---------------------------------------
UPDATE July 12th
Warnings of Westminster paedophile network 'ignored' because 'there were too many'
The Telegraph
A former social services official has said his warnings about the threat of a Westminster-based paedophile network were ignored because “there were too many of them over there".
David Tombs, who ran Hereford and Worcester social services, said he warned the government after the arrest of paedophile Peter Righton in 1992.
Two inquiries have been launched into historical claims of child abuse.
Tim Yeo MP, a junior health minister in the early 1990s, said he was "staggered" by the claims.
[Sure Tim....And the moon is made of cheese]
[Sure Tim....And the moon is made of cheese]
He added that he was "not aware" of a culture of child sex abuse during his time as a health minister, and said he was puzzled as to why Mr Tombs did not take his concerns further at the time and speak to his local MP.
Mr Tombs, who in charge of social services in his area for 20 years, claims that when Righton was arrested in 1992, he became aware of information through the police investigation that suggested a paedophilic network was operating.
He said what he learned would have been of "national concern" and told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It was coming across to me at the time that there were names there that were linked into the establishment, if you like.
"I had no particular names, but that was the impression I was getting."
He said when he alerted Department of Health representatives, he was told by civil servants that he was "probably wasting [his] time" because there were "too many of them over there".
Asked what he thought was meant by the word "them", Mr Tombs said "those within Parliament and government in Whitehall".
Mr Tombs said: “I went to the Department (of Health) because I was concerned that some of the names that came from the police investigation in Evesham related to people in my own authority and it seemed to me that there was a serious issue that would have been of national concern.
“It was coming across to me at the time that there were names there that were linked into the establishment if you like, and I had no particular names, but that was the impression I was getting. And I felt that the Government needed to be alert to it and I wanted to raise awareness of this with people who were much closer to policy making that I was.
"I went and saw senior officials in the Department of Health.
“I was drawing to their attention that this was a major problem, one which had not been recognised in the way that we now do recognise it and that it needed attention and it needed Government attention as much as local authority attention.
“I was thinking in terms of paedophile behaviour of the sort that was being revealed as a consequence of the Peter Righton arrest.
“I was disappointed because I was told that I was probably wasting my time, that there were – and the words used were along these lines – that there were too many of them over there. Now, I was talking about paedophilia. I was in the Department of Health and the ‘over there’ to me indicated, although the words weren’t used, within Parliament or within Government and Whitehall.
“I was angry. I was furious. It seemed to me that the one place I should be able to come to, to alert the nation to this issue, was the Department of Health.
“And it didn’t look as if I was going to get any kind of response. And that’s perhaps one of the reasons why I am so pleased that now that there are some nationally recognised figures being prosecuted.
“The Government is taking the matter seriously. But this is 24-25 years later on from when I was expressing my concern."
But Mr Yeo said he found Mr Tombs' claims "incredible".
[Actually no. This is a normal part of Establishment dynamics. Nothing incredible here, repellent and disgusting perhaps but not incredible. Yeo is either a naive idiot or he's attempting to deflect investigations much like Lord Tebbit]
He told the Today programme: "I think it's incredible, the idea that any remotely credible evidence had been shown to a civil servant at the Department of Health would have been ignored and received the comment that it apparently was.
"There was no culture of child sex abuse that I was aware of either in Whitehall or in Parliament," he added. "The whole thing is extraordinary."
[Yeo is covering up here. Anything he says should be treated with the utmost caution. Anyone who knew anything about paedophilia in Whitehall and the rest knows that it was common knowledge].
-----------------------------------
He said what he learned would have been of "national concern" and told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It was coming across to me at the time that there were names there that were linked into the establishment, if you like.
"I had no particular names, but that was the impression I was getting."
He said when he alerted Department of Health representatives, he was told by civil servants that he was "probably wasting [his] time" because there were "too many of them over there".
Asked what he thought was meant by the word "them", Mr Tombs said "those within Parliament and government in Whitehall".
Mr Tombs said: “I went to the Department (of Health) because I was concerned that some of the names that came from the police investigation in Evesham related to people in my own authority and it seemed to me that there was a serious issue that would have been of national concern.
“It was coming across to me at the time that there were names there that were linked into the establishment if you like, and I had no particular names, but that was the impression I was getting. And I felt that the Government needed to be alert to it and I wanted to raise awareness of this with people who were much closer to policy making that I was.
"I went and saw senior officials in the Department of Health.
“I was drawing to their attention that this was a major problem, one which had not been recognised in the way that we now do recognise it and that it needed attention and it needed Government attention as much as local authority attention.
“I was thinking in terms of paedophile behaviour of the sort that was being revealed as a consequence of the Peter Righton arrest.
“I was disappointed because I was told that I was probably wasting my time, that there were – and the words used were along these lines – that there were too many of them over there. Now, I was talking about paedophilia. I was in the Department of Health and the ‘over there’ to me indicated, although the words weren’t used, within Parliament or within Government and Whitehall.
“I was angry. I was furious. It seemed to me that the one place I should be able to come to, to alert the nation to this issue, was the Department of Health.
“And it didn’t look as if I was going to get any kind of response. And that’s perhaps one of the reasons why I am so pleased that now that there are some nationally recognised figures being prosecuted.
“The Government is taking the matter seriously. But this is 24-25 years later on from when I was expressing my concern."
But Mr Yeo said he found Mr Tombs' claims "incredible".
[Actually no. This is a normal part of Establishment dynamics. Nothing incredible here, repellent and disgusting perhaps but not incredible. Yeo is either a naive idiot or he's attempting to deflect investigations much like Lord Tebbit]
He told the Today programme: "I think it's incredible, the idea that any remotely credible evidence had been shown to a civil servant at the Department of Health would have been ignored and received the comment that it apparently was.
"There was no culture of child sex abuse that I was aware of either in Whitehall or in Parliament," he added. "The whole thing is extraordinary."
[Yeo is covering up here. Anything he says should be treated with the utmost caution. Anyone who knew anything about paedophilia in Whitehall and the rest knows that it was common knowledge].
-----------------------------------
UPDATE July 13th
The Independent
A former Tory activist who claims to have been personally involved in finding rent boys to ‘entertain’ eminent Conservative politicians in the 1980s has offered to give evidence to the Butler-Sloss inquiry into sex abuse.
Anthony Gilberthorpe, who chaired the Stroud Young Conservatives in the early 1980s, has told the Sunday Mirror that during the Conservative annual conference in Blackpool, in 1983, he was given “about £120” by the then chairman of the Scottish Conservatives, Dr Alistair Smith, who told him: “Go and fetch some entertainment.”
He said that it was “a norm” at that time that some older members of the Tory party would hold parties at which young men – often under 21, which was then the age of consent for gay sex – were paid to take part.
He gave the newspaper the names of several Conservative politicians who he alleged were at these parties, including the then Attorney General, Michael Havers, who was the brother of Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the judge who has been given the task of leading the inquiry. The four whose names were published by the Sunday Mirror – Smith, Havers, Keith Joseph and Rhodes Boyson – are all dead. The newspaper says that Mr Gilberthorpe also named one politician who is still a serving minister, and two who served as Cabinet ministers under Margaret Thatcher.
But David Mellor, who was a Home Office minister in 1983-87, dismissed the allegations. “This is chap who is annoyed that he was not chosen as a Tory candidate,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme. “He has now found these names, improbable names – Rhodes Boyson: I don’t see Rhodes Boyson with little boys. Michael Havers! Heavens above! I think this is now open season because of a pretty dodgy dossier presented to Leon Brittan by a Tory back bencher, which had very little substance in my view.”
The Independent
A former Tory activist who claims to have been personally involved in finding rent boys to ‘entertain’ eminent Conservative politicians in the 1980s has offered to give evidence to the Butler-Sloss inquiry into sex abuse.
Anthony Gilberthorpe, who chaired the Stroud Young Conservatives in the early 1980s, has told the Sunday Mirror that during the Conservative annual conference in Blackpool, in 1983, he was given “about £120” by the then chairman of the Scottish Conservatives, Dr Alistair Smith, who told him: “Go and fetch some entertainment.”
He said that it was “a norm” at that time that some older members of the Tory party would hold parties at which young men – often under 21, which was then the age of consent for gay sex – were paid to take part.
He gave the newspaper the names of several Conservative politicians who he alleged were at these parties, including the then Attorney General, Michael Havers, who was the brother of Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the judge who has been given the task of leading the inquiry. The four whose names were published by the Sunday Mirror – Smith, Havers, Keith Joseph and Rhodes Boyson – are all dead. The newspaper says that Mr Gilberthorpe also named one politician who is still a serving minister, and two who served as Cabinet ministers under Margaret Thatcher.
But David Mellor, who was a Home Office minister in 1983-87, dismissed the allegations. “This is chap who is annoyed that he was not chosen as a Tory candidate,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme. “He has now found these names, improbable names – Rhodes Boyson: I don’t see Rhodes Boyson with little boys. Michael Havers! Heavens above! I think this is now open season because of a pretty dodgy dossier presented to Leon Brittan by a Tory back bencher, which had very little substance in my view.”
[Like Yeo, Mellor is reducing an epidemic in child abuse within the Establishment to party political point scoring. He is the worst type of the standard public school twerp full of his own inflated importance.]
Mr Mellor admitted that he had never seen the dossier that was handed to the former Home Secretary in 1983 by the backbench MP, Geoffrey Dickens.
“The interesting thing about that dossier is that nobody who is commenting on it has ever seen it,” he said.
This is not the first time that Mr Gilberthorpe has co-operated with the Sunday Mirror on a Tory sex scandal. In October 1997, he allowed his flat in York to be used by a Tory MP Piers Merchant, who had told his wife that he was going to the Conservative annual conference, when he was actually meeting an 18-year-old woman who had helped out in his constituency.
Mr Gilberthorpe secretly taped their liaison and, when the scandal broke, Mr Merchant – who died in 2009 - resigned from the Parliament. He later joined Ukip.
--------------------------
UPDATE July 14th
Baroness forced to step down in UK Pedophile Investigation
RT
Saying she was “not the right person” for the job, Baroness Butler-Sloss has stepped down as head of the UK government’s inquiry that looks into reports of at least 20 senior figures including MPs and cabinet ministers abusing children over decades.
Butler-Sloss, 80, had been under pressure to quit by both MPs and victims due to her family links. Sir Michael Havers, who is the Baroness’ late brother, served as attorney general in the 1980’s, and is suspected of turning a blind eye to incidents of child abuse conducted by politicians during the time.
Butler-Sloss said that she was ‘honored’ to be invited to chair the inquiry but that she “did not sufficiently consider whether my background and the fact my brother had been attorney general would cause difficulties."
“This is a victim-orientated inquiry and those who wish to be heard must have confidence that the members of the panel will pay proper regard to their concerns and give appropriate advice to government” she added.
The retired judge had been appointed by Home Secretary Theresa May last week, a decision that has been called “somewhat shambolic” by a leading MP.
Speaking in front of the Home Affairs select committee today, the Home Secretary said she did not regret selecting Butler-Sloss, and that she would have done an “excellent job” as chair of the inquiry.
Asked about appointing a new chairperson, May said she hoped to name a new candidate “within a reasonable amount of time”.
Prime Minister David Cameron bowed to pressure in calling for a public inquiry into child sex abuse last week, following revelations that the Home Office lost a document alleging that politicians in powerful circles were involved in pedophilia during the 1980s.
Earlier this month, former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Tebbit told the BBC that there “may well” have been a cover up over child abuse in Westminster during the 1980’s, saying that politicians at the time felt they needed to “protect the system”.
-------------------------------
FLASHBACK:
EXCLUSIVE: Secret service infiltrated paedophile group to 'blackmail establishment'
Daily Express
June 29 2014
BRITISH security services infiltrated and funded the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange in a covert operation to identify and possibly blackmail establishment figures, a Home Office whistleblower alleges.
The former civil servant has told detectives investigating the activities of paedophiles in national politics that the Metropolitan Police’s Special Branch was orchestrating the child-sex lobbying group in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The whistleblower, who has spoken exclusively to the Sunday Express, says he was also warned off asking why such a notorious group was being handed government money.
It emerged late last year that PIE was twice gave amounts of £35,000 in Home Office funding between 1977 and 1980, the £70,000 total equivalent to over £400,000 in today’s money.
Those details surfaced only after the whistleblower highlighted his concerns to campaigning Labour MP Tom Watson and his revelations have triggered an ongoing Home Office inquiry into why the cash was given to PIE which was abolished in 1985 after a number of prosecutions.
Until now, speculation about the grant has centred on Clifford Hindley, the late Home Office manager who approved the payments. However, the whistleblower told the Sunday Express he thought higher and more sinister powers were at play.
He has given a formal statement to that effect to detectives from Operation Fernbridge, which is looking into allegations of historic sex abuse at the Elm Guest House in south-west London.
PIE, now considered one of the most notorious groups of the era, had gained respectability in political circles. Its members are said to have included establishment figures, and disgraced Liberal MP Cyril Smith was a friend of founder member Peter Righton.
In 1981, Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens used Parliamentary privilege to name Sir Peter Hayman, the deputy director of MI6, as a member of PIE and an active paedophile. In 1983 Mr Dickens gave the Home Office a dossier of what he claimed was evidence of a paedophile network of “big, big names, people in positions of power, influence and responsibility”. The Home Office says the dossier no longer exists.
Whistleblower Mr X, whose identity we have agreed to protect, became a very senior figure in local government before retiring a few years ago. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a full-time consultant in the Home Office’s Voluntary Services Unit run by Clifford Hindley.
In 1979 Mr X was asked to examine a funding renewal application for PIE, but he became concerned because the organisation’s goal of seeking to abolish the age of consent “conflicted” with the child protection policies of the Department of Health and Social Security and asked for a meeting with Mr Hindley, his immediate boss.
Mr X recalled: “I raised my concerns, but he told me that I was to drop them. Hindley gave three reasons for this. He said PIE was an organisation with cachet and that its work in this field was respected.
“He said this was a renewal of an existing grant and that under normal Home Office practice a consultant such as myself would not be involved in the decision-making process.
“And he said PIE was being funded at the request of Special Branch which found it politically useful to identify people who were paedophiles. This led me not to pursue my objections. At that time, questioning anything to do with Special Branch, especially within the Home Office, was a ‘no-no’.
“I was under the clear belief that I was being instructed to back off and that his reference to Special Branch was expected to make me to do so.
“Hindley didn’t give me an explicit explanation of what Special Branch would do with information it gleaned from funding PIE, but I formed the belief that it was part of an undercover operation or activity. I was aware a lot of people in the civil service or political arena had an interest in obtaining information like that which could be used as a sort of blackmail.”
He said he asked for a file the Home Office kept on PIE, but his request was refused.
However, he was certain then Tory Home Office Minister Tim Raison, who died in 2011, must have signed the 1980 funding application.
Mr X has given a formal written statement to the inquiry set up last year into former Home Office links with PIE but has refused to meet the inquiry in person because he fears “repercussions” under the Official Secrets Act.
Yesterday Tom Watson said: “The whole sorry business makes it absolutely imperative the Home Secretary bows to the will of the 114 MPs demanding a full, fearless public investigation into child sexual abuse.”
Special Branch was an integral part of the intelligence service gathering intelligence on spies and political threats to the state. In 2005 it merged with the anti-terrorism branch to form a Counter Terrorism Command.
---------------------
'I Supplied Underage Boys to Thatcher's Ministers
Matthew Drake
(July 13, 2014) Tory child abuse whistleblower: "I supplied underage rent boys for Margaret Thatcher's cabinet ministers"
Whistleblower and former Conservative party activist Anthony Gilberthorpe says he provided child prostitutes for a sex and drugs party with top politicians
Senior Tory cabinet ministers were supplied with underage boys for sex parties, it is sensationally claimed.
Former Conservative activist Anthony Gilberthorpe said he told Margaret Thatcher 25 years ago about what he had witnessed and gave her names of those involved.
His allegations that he saw top Tories having sex with boys comes after David Cameron launched a Government inquiry into claims of a cover-up.
Anthony, 52, said: “I am prepared to speak to the inquiry. I believe I am a key witness.”
Trawling seedy streets during a Tory conference, Gilberthorpe says he was asked to find underage rent boys for a private sex party at a top hotel.
---------------------------
(July 13, 2014) Tory child abuse whistleblower: "I supplied underage rent boys for Margaret Thatcher's cabinet ministers"
Whistleblower and former Conservative party activist Anthony Gilberthorpe says he provided child prostitutes for a sex and drugs party with top politicians
Senior Tory cabinet ministers were supplied with underage boys for sex parties, it is sensationally claimed.
Former Conservative activist Anthony Gilberthorpe said he told Margaret Thatcher 25 years ago about what he had witnessed and gave her names of those involved.
His allegations that he saw top Tories having sex with boys comes after David Cameron launched a Government inquiry into claims of a cover-up.
Anthony, 52, said: “I am prepared to speak to the inquiry. I believe I am a key witness.”
Trawling seedy streets during a Tory conference, Gilberthorpe says he was asked to find underage rent boys for a private sex party at a top hotel.
Tory child abuse whistleblower: 'Margaret Thatcher knew all about underage sex ring among ministers'
Cyril Smith: MP's friend made 'veiled threats' to police
BBC News
A high-ranking friend of Cyril Smith tried to warn off police investigating claims that he had been sexually abusing boys, a report reveals.
The detective's 1970 report to the Chief Constable of Lancashire said there was "prima facie" evidence of the MP's guilt.
The Director of Public Prosecution later advised against prosecuting.
The 14-page report by the detective superintendent, which has been redacted, has been seen by the BBC.
It said that Smith would have been "at the mercy of a competent counsel", but also reported that the MP's magistrate "buddy" had warned of "unfortunate repercussions for the police force and the town of Rochdale" should he be prosecuted.
The officer, whose name has been redacted from the report, was investigating allegations of sex abuse by eight young boys, six of whom who had been at the privately-run Cambridge House care home in Rochdale.
The home closed in 1965, prior to Smith's election as a MP for Rochdale.
Police and Rochdale Council are already investigating allegations that the Liberal MP sexually abused boys at Knowl View residential school.
The residential school for vulnerable boys in Rochdale closed in 1992.
Read more
-----------------------------
UPDATE July 21st
Bradford paedophile ‘has information on Westminster child abuse’
Yorkshire Post
A CONVICTED paedophile in West Yorkshire had his sentencing adjourned because he claims to have information on child abuse allegedly being covered up in Westminster in the 1970s.
According to his barrister, Michael McAuliffe says he is also able to provide information about further child abuse and paedophile rings.
James Bourne-Arton QC, defending McAuliffe, asked the court whether his client’s case could be adjourned for police investigations into his claims to be made.
Mr Bourne-Arton told Bradford Crown Court today that his client “has information to the abuse covered up in the 1970s in Westminster”.
“He also said there was other evidence of child abuse and paedophile rings he was able to give information of,” he added.
McAuliffe was in court to be sentenced for a string of child porn image charges after an off-duty policewoman spotted him in London – where he had tried to escape justice by changing his name.
The 50-year-old, who changed his name to Ashley Peters, was registered with West Yorkshire Police and legally bound to notify the force of any change in address following child porn convictions.
Read more
-------------------------------
UPDATE: July 26th
International Business News
Police are to launch an investigation into whether allegations of child abuse involving Lib Dem MP Cyril Smith were covered up by its own officers as well as politicians.
Smith, who died in 2010, is alleged to have committed a series of child sex offences at the Knowl View School in Rochdale over years.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have now referred themselves to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to investigate whether the abuse at the hands of the politician were covered up.
Allegations surrounding Smith first emerged in 1979. Despite being investigated by police after more than 144 complaints, Smith was never charged for any offence.
Rochdale Labour MP Simon Danczuk also repeated the allegations in his recently published book Smile for the Camera: The Double Life Of Cyril Smith, which he wrote with Matthew Baker.
Danczuk claims any attempts to make a prosecution against Smith were blocked by people at the "very top of the establishment".
Read more
-------------------------------------
UPDATE July 28
Margaret Thatcher 'Told Of Sir Peter Morrison Paedophile Claims'
Huffington Post
Margaret Thatcher was told about alleged sex parties with under-age boys held by one of her closest aides claims her former personal bodyguard.
Barry Strevens, who worked as the prime minister’s personal bodyguard, said that he passed on allegations about her confidant Sir Peter Morrison.
The former senior police officer said that Lady Thatcher appointed Sir Peter deputy party chairman of the Conservatives despite learning of the rumours.
The Old Etonian, who died of a heart attack in 1995 at the age of 51, has since been linked to claims of sex abuse at children’s homes in North Wales.
Strevens, an ex-detective chief inspector, told the Sun on Sunday: “I wouldn’t say she (Lady Thatcher) was naive but I would say she would not have thought people around her would be like that.
“I am sure he would have given her assurances about the rumours as otherwise she wouldn’t have given him the job.”
The former bodyguard said that he first found out about the claims from a senior Cheshire Police officer.
At the time, Sir Peter was being considered as the replacement for deputy party chairman after Jeffrey Archer had stood down over prostitution claims in 1986.
Strevens said that he "immediately" passed on the information to Lady Thatcher and her private secretary Archie Hamilton at a meeting in Downing Street.
"A senior officer in Chester had told me there were rumours going around about under-age boys - one aged 15 - attending sex parties at a house there belonging to Peter Morrison," he said.
"After we returned to No10 I asked to go and see her immediately. It was unusual for me to do that, so they would have know it was something serious.
"When I went in Archie Hamilton was there. I told them exactly what had been said about Peter. Archie took notes and they thanked me for coming.
"There was no proof but the officer I spoke to was certain and said local press knew a lot more."
Responding to the claims, Hamilton said that he remembered that the officer had been at No10 but could not recall any mention of under-age boys.
"I don't remember him saying they were under-age," he said. "There may have been but the point he was making to her was that there were only men involved.
"She listened to what he said and that was it. It was merely a party and men were there."
Tory grandee Lord Tebbit has previously stated that he confronted Sir Peter over the allegations and received a flat denial.
Former Conservative MP Edwina Currie also described him as a "noted pederast" with a liking for young boys.
Educated at Oxford and elected as MP for Chester in 1974, Sir Peter came from a wealthy political dynasty who own the whisky-producing island of Islay in the Hebrides.
His father was close friends with Lady Thatcher while his sister Mary is one of the Queen's most senior ladies-in-waiting.
Knighted in 1988, he later became the prime minister's parliamentary secretary before running her 1990 re-election campaign, which saw her lose office.
A full-scale investigation into claims of an alleged paedophile ring in Westminster was announced earlier this month by Home Secretary Theresa May.
------------------------
November 8th
The Dickens Dossier: Secret file on establishment paedophiles may be opened
A secret file which is said to contain the names of paedophiles with
links to the British establishment and which is rumoured to be locked
away in archives at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, could
be made public as part of the Government’s child abuse inquiry.
Inquiry panel members Barbara Hearn and Sharon Evans, along with Ben
Emmerson QC, counsel to the inquiry, assured campaigners at their
meeting last week – shortly before Fiona Woolf announced she would be
the second person to resign as chair – that they would have top-level
security clearance and access to restricted or closed files.The whereabouts of the “Dickens Dossier”, containing allegations of paedophiles linked to the British establishment and compiled by former Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, is unknown. It went missing after the politician handed it to the then Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, in 1984, as are more than 100 documents concerning child abuse allegations that had been held by the Home Office. It is rumoured it may be in the Barbara Castle archives within the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.
Read More
-------------------
November 12th
Child sex abuse report: Files concerning Westminster paedophile ring were destroyed in last few years
------------------------
Update November 14
Westminster paedophile ring investigated over murder links
The Telegraph
Detectives investigating allegations of organised child sex abuse in
the 1970s and 1980s are now examining possible murder links, the
Metropolitan Police has said.
Officers working on Operation Fairbank, which was launched to
investigate allegations that a paedophile ring with links to government
operated more than 30-years ago, have now uncovered information
regarding a possible murder.
They have now launched a new strand of the investigation called
Operation Midland, but have said the inquiry is still in its very early
stages.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Over the past month, detectives
working on Operation Fairbank within the Met's Specialist Crime and
Operations have been made aware of allegations concerning serious
non-recent sexual abuse, said to have occurred over 30 years ago.
“Our inquiries into this, over subsequent weeks, have revealed further information regarding possible homicide. Based on our current knowledge, this is the first time that this specific information has been passed to the Met.”
Read More
---------------------
November 17th
Tory MP 'strangled' boy to death at sex abuse party, victim claims
The Independent
A victim of the alleged Westminster paedophile ring that operated nearly three decades ago has claimed he saw a Conservative MP strangle a young boy to death at an “abuse party”.
The victim, who has been named “Nick,” has detailed the murder of the 12-year-old boy to police, The Sunday People and Exaro investigations agency, and alleged that two other boys were also killed by the abusers.
Describing the incident of the boy who was strangled, Nick said: “I watched how that happened. I am not sure how I got out of that. Whether I will ever know why I survived, I am not sure.”
Scotland Yard revealed on Friday it has launched a new investigation into a “possible homicide” under the name Operation Midland.
Scotland Yard said officers working on Operation Fairbank, the investigation into the allegations of “serious non-recent sexual abuse” with links to Parliament dating back to the 1970s and 1980s, had revealed further information regarding a possible homicide, and that “based on our current knowledge, this is the first time that this specific information has been passed to the Met.”
Around 18 months after Nick witnessed the boy’s murder, he claims he saw another boy killed in a brutal physical attack.
The Sunday People and Exaro have claimed that the Met is now investigating three murder allegations, but the police said it will not comment further on Operation Midland.
Nick claims that the first death of one of the victims of sexual abuse was of a boy aged 10 or 11, who was killed after he was deliberately run down by a car being driven by one of the perpetrators. Nick has described how he took the death to be a warning to him not to talk to anyone about the abuse he experienced.
Nick, now in his 40s, alleges that a former Conservative MP repeatedly raped him and other boys between the ages of 10 and 14.
He claims he was first abused at a Christmas Party at the age of 11, where he and the other children were ordered not to speak to each other.
He said: “We were asked if we wanted a drink. It was always whisky. Both MPs were brutal. I was raped over a bath-tub while my head was beneath the water.”
Nick said he was handed to the paedophile ring of MPs and other prominent figures by his abusive father, and that he and other boys often picked up by “luxury cars with a chauffeur” and taken to “abuse parties” at different locations, including an apartment complex near Parliament.
-----------------
November 19th
Westminster child abuse scandal: Scotland Yard accused of 'cover-up' over death of boy in 1980s
The Independent
Scotland Yard is facing allegations of a “cover-up” after a father of an eight-year-old boy murdered in the 1980s reportedly said that his son may have died at the hands of a Westminster paedophile ring. Vishambar Mehrotra’s son Vishal was abducted as he walked home from Putney on 29 July 1981. He claims he received an anonymous call from a male prostitute in the months following.
The retired magistrate told The Daily Telegraph that he later recorded a male prostitute saying in a telephone call that his son may have been kidnapped and taken to the Elm Guest House.
Mr Mehrotra told The Telegraph he took the recording to the police by they refused to investigate the allegation. “He told me he believed Vishal may have been taken by paedophiles in the Elm Guest House near Barnes Common,” Mr Mehrotra said. “He talked about judges and politicians who were abusing little boys.” He added: “At that time I trusted the police. But when nothing happened I became confused and concerned. Now it clear to me that there has been a huge cover-up. There is no doubt in my mind.”
The allegation is the latest in widespread claims surrounding an establishment cover-up at Elm Guest House, in south-west London, purportedly the venue for the abuse of boys from local care homes in the 1970s and 1980s. However, despite lurid allegations involving high-profile public figures, no charges relating to the guest house have yet been brought.
------------------
Update: December 18th
Child abuse inquiry: Met Police investigate alleged murders of three young boys
The Independent
Scotland Yard is investigating the alleged murders of three young boys by a VIP paedophile ring after a “credible” witness came forward to detail his abuse at the hands of Conservative politician, police said today.
The man – known only as Nick –has claimed that a Conservative MP murdered a boy during a sex attack, and a second boy was killed by a ring of abusers active in the late 1970s and 80s.
He claims that a third boy was deliberately run down in a car, which he said was a direct warning to him to keep quiet, according to an account given to investigative journalism website Exaro.
Police yesterday appealed for more witnesses to come forward. Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, the lead officer for the operation, said that Nick had been spoken to by murder detectives and specialist child abuse investigators. “They and I believe what Nick is saying to be credible and true hence why we are investigating the allegations he has made to us.
"I appeal to men who were subjected to abuse 30 years ago to come forward. We are also investigating the murder of three young boys - we are determined to find answers."
Nick – whose real name has not been disclosed – has claimed that he was abused from the age of seven to 16 by groups of men, including at parties and at places across London and the Home Counties including military bases.
One claimed venue was at least one flat at Dolphin Square in Pimlico, central London, a residential development near Parliament that has long been popular with MPs. Police yesterday said that Nick described how a car came to collect him and he would be driven to Dolphin Square and was subjected to abuse by individuals and groups.
The detective urged people living there in the 1970s to come forward as they "will have seen or heard something that they only understand the significance of now".
Bodies have been discovered and officers are trawling files of missing children from the period to try to establish if any of them had been murdered by a gang.
Officers confirmed that they had spoken to the family of Martin Allen, a boy who disappeared in 1979, but they said it was too early to say if his case was linked to Nick’s allegations. The force also said it was in contact with Sussex police which is carrying out a review of the case of an eight-year-old boy murdered 33 years ago.
Vishambar Mehrotra, a 69-year-old retired magistrate, recorded a male prostitute saying in a telephone call that his son Vishal may have been abducted and taken to the Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London, in 1981, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Mr Mehrotra took the recording to the Metropolitan Police at the time but told the newspaper that they refused to investigate an allegation implicating "judges and politicians".
Mr Mehrotra told the newspaper: "I was contacted by a young man who seemed to be in his 20s. He told me he believed Vishal may have been taken by paedophiles in the Elm Guest House near Barnes Common.
"He said there were very highly placed people there. He talked about judges and politicians who were abusing little boys."
Scotland Yard said that it was not clear whether the murder was linked to its current inquiries.
“Our inquiries into this, over subsequent weeks, have revealed further information regarding possible homicide. Based on our current knowledge, this is the first time that this specific information has been passed to the Met.”
Read More
---------------------
November 17th
Tory MP 'strangled' boy to death at sex abuse party, victim claims
The Independent
A victim of the alleged Westminster paedophile ring that operated nearly three decades ago has claimed he saw a Conservative MP strangle a young boy to death at an “abuse party”.
The victim, who has been named “Nick,” has detailed the murder of the 12-year-old boy to police, The Sunday People and Exaro investigations agency, and alleged that two other boys were also killed by the abusers.
Describing the incident of the boy who was strangled, Nick said: “I watched how that happened. I am not sure how I got out of that. Whether I will ever know why I survived, I am not sure.”
Scotland Yard revealed on Friday it has launched a new investigation into a “possible homicide” under the name Operation Midland.
Scotland Yard said officers working on Operation Fairbank, the investigation into the allegations of “serious non-recent sexual abuse” with links to Parliament dating back to the 1970s and 1980s, had revealed further information regarding a possible homicide, and that “based on our current knowledge, this is the first time that this specific information has been passed to the Met.”
Around 18 months after Nick witnessed the boy’s murder, he claims he saw another boy killed in a brutal physical attack.
The Sunday People and Exaro have claimed that the Met is now investigating three murder allegations, but the police said it will not comment further on Operation Midland.
Nick claims that the first death of one of the victims of sexual abuse was of a boy aged 10 or 11, who was killed after he was deliberately run down by a car being driven by one of the perpetrators. Nick has described how he took the death to be a warning to him not to talk to anyone about the abuse he experienced.
Nick, now in his 40s, alleges that a former Conservative MP repeatedly raped him and other boys between the ages of 10 and 14.
He claims he was first abused at a Christmas Party at the age of 11, where he and the other children were ordered not to speak to each other.
He said: “We were asked if we wanted a drink. It was always whisky. Both MPs were brutal. I was raped over a bath-tub while my head was beneath the water.”
Nick said he was handed to the paedophile ring of MPs and other prominent figures by his abusive father, and that he and other boys often picked up by “luxury cars with a chauffeur” and taken to “abuse parties” at different locations, including an apartment complex near Parliament.
-----------------
November 19th
Westminster child abuse scandal: Scotland Yard accused of 'cover-up' over death of boy in 1980s
The Independent
Scotland Yard is facing allegations of a “cover-up” after a father of an eight-year-old boy murdered in the 1980s reportedly said that his son may have died at the hands of a Westminster paedophile ring. Vishambar Mehrotra’s son Vishal was abducted as he walked home from Putney on 29 July 1981. He claims he received an anonymous call from a male prostitute in the months following.
The retired magistrate told The Daily Telegraph that he later recorded a male prostitute saying in a telephone call that his son may have been kidnapped and taken to the Elm Guest House.
Mr Mehrotra told The Telegraph he took the recording to the police by they refused to investigate the allegation. “He told me he believed Vishal may have been taken by paedophiles in the Elm Guest House near Barnes Common,” Mr Mehrotra said. “He talked about judges and politicians who were abusing little boys.” He added: “At that time I trusted the police. But when nothing happened I became confused and concerned. Now it clear to me that there has been a huge cover-up. There is no doubt in my mind.”
The allegation is the latest in widespread claims surrounding an establishment cover-up at Elm Guest House, in south-west London, purportedly the venue for the abuse of boys from local care homes in the 1970s and 1980s. However, despite lurid allegations involving high-profile public figures, no charges relating to the guest house have yet been brought.
------------------
Update: December 18th
Child abuse inquiry: Met Police investigate alleged murders of three young boys
The Independent
Scotland Yard is investigating the alleged murders of three young boys by a VIP paedophile ring after a “credible” witness came forward to detail his abuse at the hands of Conservative politician, police said today.
The man – known only as Nick –has claimed that a Conservative MP murdered a boy during a sex attack, and a second boy was killed by a ring of abusers active in the late 1970s and 80s.
He claims that a third boy was deliberately run down in a car, which he said was a direct warning to him to keep quiet, according to an account given to investigative journalism website Exaro.
Police yesterday appealed for more witnesses to come forward. Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, the lead officer for the operation, said that Nick had been spoken to by murder detectives and specialist child abuse investigators. “They and I believe what Nick is saying to be credible and true hence why we are investigating the allegations he has made to us.
"I appeal to men who were subjected to abuse 30 years ago to come forward. We are also investigating the murder of three young boys - we are determined to find answers."
Nick – whose real name has not been disclosed – has claimed that he was abused from the age of seven to 16 by groups of men, including at parties and at places across London and the Home Counties including military bases.
One claimed venue was at least one flat at Dolphin Square in Pimlico, central London, a residential development near Parliament that has long been popular with MPs. Police yesterday said that Nick described how a car came to collect him and he would be driven to Dolphin Square and was subjected to abuse by individuals and groups.
The detective urged people living there in the 1970s to come forward as they "will have seen or heard something that they only understand the significance of now".
Bodies have been discovered and officers are trawling files of missing children from the period to try to establish if any of them had been murdered by a gang.
Officers confirmed that they had spoken to the family of Martin Allen, a boy who disappeared in 1979, but they said it was too early to say if his case was linked to Nick’s allegations. The force also said it was in contact with Sussex police which is carrying out a review of the case of an eight-year-old boy murdered 33 years ago.
Vishambar Mehrotra, a 69-year-old retired magistrate, recorded a male prostitute saying in a telephone call that his son Vishal may have been abducted and taken to the Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London, in 1981, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Mr Mehrotra took the recording to the Metropolitan Police at the time but told the newspaper that they refused to investigate an allegation implicating "judges and politicians".
Mr Mehrotra told the newspaper: "I was contacted by a young man who seemed to be in his 20s. He told me he believed Vishal may have been taken by paedophiles in the Elm Guest House near Barnes Common.
"He said there were very highly placed people there. He talked about judges and politicians who were abusing little boys."
Scotland Yard said that it was not clear whether the murder was linked to its current inquiries.
Comment: and they are still raping children. This isn't just a 1970s aberration but a continuing result of our pathologised social systems.
---------------------------
Update: December 22nd
Simon Danczuk: child abuse inquiry is being deliberately sabotaged by Government
The Telegraph
January 21st 2015
Westminster child abuse inquiry to hear Margaret Thatcher was presented 'allegations of unnatural sexual proclivities'
The Independent
A UK academic has uncovered a file which he claims could contain allegations of “unnatural” sexual activities against public figures at the height of the Westminster child abuse scandal.
Dr Chris Murphy, a security and intelligence lecturer at the University of Salford, found the classified document while searching the National Archives in Kew.
While its contents have not been made public, Dr Murphy said he was immediately alerted by the title showing it had been taken to the then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
The title read: “PREM19/588 – SECURITY. Allegations against former public [word missing] of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects 1980 Oct 27 - 1981 Mar 20.”
According to Sky News, the Cabinet Office has been made aware of the file and it will be made available to the ongoing panel inquiry into the alleged existence of a paedophile ring involving senior Westminster figures.
Dr Murphy told the broadcaster: “The fact that this file is concerning the Prime Minister and these allegations are being taken to the Prime Minister I think would strike anybody of being potentially of some interest.”
The embattled inquiry was set up by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to find out whether public bodies had neglected or covered up allegations of child sex abuse in the wake of claims paedophiles had operated in Westminster in the 1980s.
Two chairs of the inquiry, Lady Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf, have already stood down over concerns over their links to the public bodies being investigated.
This week the independent panel suffered a further setback after one of its members claimed she had been “bullied” by the barrister conducting the inquiry, Ben Emmerson QC, who she claimed was “running the show”. He has described the allegations as “entirely baseless”.
--------------------
January 26th 2015
Leon Brittan sex abuse allegations: Two come forward to claim they were abused by former Home Secretary
The Independent
Leon Brittan was today accused of “multiple child rape” as detailed accusations of sex abuse were levelled against the late former Home Secretary for the first time.
Labour MP Tom Watson said he had spoken to two people who claimed they were abused by the Conservative peer, including a witness known as Nick who alleged he had been attacked more than a dozen times as a boy and seen the politician assault others.
Lord Brittan died last week from cancer, aged 75. He had always categorically denied any allegation of sexual wrongdoing or cover-up. Friends and former Cabinet colleagues paying tribute to him said his final months had been unjustly clouded by a “smear campaign” and “innuendo”.
The peer had hitherto been named in relation only to his handling of a dossier containing the names of alleged Establishment paedophiles which he insisted had been passed to police but which could not be found on Home Office files. This is the first time detailed allegations of child sex abuse against the senior Tory have been made public.
Mr Watson, a former defence minister, said he believed the alleged victims he had spoken to were “sincere”.
The MP said he – along with others, including media organisations – had known of the accusations but had decided not to speak out for fear of prejudicing any jury trial that Lord Brittan might have one day faced. Mr Watson told the Sunday Mirror: “It’s not for me to judge whether the claims made against Brittan are true. It’s for the police to investigate these claims as they continue to do so. But I believe the people I’ve spoken to are sincere.”
-----------
January 30th
Westminster 'paedophile ring': Sir Peter Hayman named in secret file
The Telegraph
---------------------------
Update: December 22nd
Simon Danczuk: child abuse inquiry is being deliberately sabotaged by Government
The Telegraph
The Government is deliberately sabotaging the inquiry into historic claims of
child abuse to protect “high profile figures,” a Labour MP has claimed.
Simon Danczuk, the backbencher who has led the calls for an inquiry into allegations
of abuse dating back decades, said the problems which had dogged the
probe set up last summer appeared to have been “quite deliberate mistakes by
people in central Government.”
A letter leaked at the weekend showed that Theresa
May, the Home Secretary, is considering abandoning the current panel,
amid a catalogue of problems including the resignations of two chairman.
A victims’ representative said the only people who wished to see the inquiry
fail were the abusers themselves.
Asked if he thought Theresa May, the Home Secretary, was responsible for a
deliberate cover-up, Mr Danczuk said he was confident she wanted to get to
the truth.
But he warned that victims could engage in “direct action” unless they began
to see justice.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “If Government are set on doing this then it can be achieved, but you can’t help thinking that they aren’t intent on getting this right.
“There’s a catalogue of mistakes that have been made, some of them fairly basic, and you can’t blame the survivors of child abuse for wondering, because of the allegations of high-profile figures involved in the abuse, you can’t help thinking that some of this is quite deliberate mistakes by people in central government.”
Asked why the Government would want to sabotage the probe, he went on: “Well, because they don’t want to get to the truth. That would be the allegation. And you can’t help people for thinking that, you can’t blame people.
“The Home Secretary in this process is in complete disarray and what you have to think about are the survivors of child abuse, some of the people who have been abused by – the allegation is – some fairly high-profile figures in our society. They must be utterly dismayed by this lack of process and lack of progress.
“We’re not getting any satisfaction from Government because we’re not moving forward and it’s been six months now, one mistake after another ... I think that people will turn to more direct action and you can hardly blame them.”
Asked what form the direct action could take, Mr Danczuk made clear he wasn’t calling for violence.
“I’m talking about a more coordinated campaign, survivor groups coming together in a more coordinated way, perhaps more and bigger peaceful protests, more challenging of ministers, more challenging of the police to take action and I think that has to be the route in which we go because there’s very little faith in the Government in delivering this,” he said.
Peter Saunders, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, welcomed Mrs May’s suggestion that the child abuse could be scrapped and replaced with one with stronger powers, saying that victims had lost confidence in the current inquiry.
He said: “The only people who want to see this fail, to not get off the ground and to not do the work that it potentially would be able to do are abusers themselves or those people who have covered up in the past.
“I have yet to encounter any survivors themselves who have any confidence in the process and in the panel as it is currently constituted.
“And really what this is about, it’s about having the confidence of the people who are at the heart of this inquiry, which is the survivors/victims themselves. Without that, it becomes a meaningless exercise.”
However Tim Loughton, a Conservative MP who serves on the Home Affairs Select Committee, warned against scrapping the current inquiry, saying the panel needed to “get on with it.”
He said: “I know there are question marks about how the panel members were appointed, there is a lot of distrust out there – not surprisingly, given the many years and decades survivors had to suffer in silence, not being believed. But that has all changed.”
He criticised Mr Danczuk for suggesting that the Government had deliberately undermined the inquiry.
Saying Mrs May was instrumental in setting up the inquiry in the first place, he went on: “She wants it to succeed, she wants it to get to the bottom of the truth.”
------------------
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “If Government are set on doing this then it can be achieved, but you can’t help thinking that they aren’t intent on getting this right.
“There’s a catalogue of mistakes that have been made, some of them fairly basic, and you can’t blame the survivors of child abuse for wondering, because of the allegations of high-profile figures involved in the abuse, you can’t help thinking that some of this is quite deliberate mistakes by people in central government.”
Asked why the Government would want to sabotage the probe, he went on: “Well, because they don’t want to get to the truth. That would be the allegation. And you can’t help people for thinking that, you can’t blame people.
“The Home Secretary in this process is in complete disarray and what you have to think about are the survivors of child abuse, some of the people who have been abused by – the allegation is – some fairly high-profile figures in our society. They must be utterly dismayed by this lack of process and lack of progress.
“We’re not getting any satisfaction from Government because we’re not moving forward and it’s been six months now, one mistake after another ... I think that people will turn to more direct action and you can hardly blame them.”
Asked what form the direct action could take, Mr Danczuk made clear he wasn’t calling for violence.
“I’m talking about a more coordinated campaign, survivor groups coming together in a more coordinated way, perhaps more and bigger peaceful protests, more challenging of ministers, more challenging of the police to take action and I think that has to be the route in which we go because there’s very little faith in the Government in delivering this,” he said.
Peter Saunders, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, welcomed Mrs May’s suggestion that the child abuse could be scrapped and replaced with one with stronger powers, saying that victims had lost confidence in the current inquiry.
He said: “The only people who want to see this fail, to not get off the ground and to not do the work that it potentially would be able to do are abusers themselves or those people who have covered up in the past.
“I have yet to encounter any survivors themselves who have any confidence in the process and in the panel as it is currently constituted.
“And really what this is about, it’s about having the confidence of the people who are at the heart of this inquiry, which is the survivors/victims themselves. Without that, it becomes a meaningless exercise.”
However Tim Loughton, a Conservative MP who serves on the Home Affairs Select Committee, warned against scrapping the current inquiry, saying the panel needed to “get on with it.”
He said: “I know there are question marks about how the panel members were appointed, there is a lot of distrust out there – not surprisingly, given the many years and decades survivors had to suffer in silence, not being believed. But that has all changed.”
He criticised Mr Danczuk for suggesting that the Government had deliberately undermined the inquiry.
Saying Mrs May was instrumental in setting up the inquiry in the first place, he went on: “She wants it to succeed, she wants it to get to the bottom of the truth.”
------------------
January 21st 2015
Westminster child abuse inquiry to hear Margaret Thatcher was presented 'allegations of unnatural sexual proclivities'
The Independent
A UK academic has uncovered a file which he claims could contain allegations of “unnatural” sexual activities against public figures at the height of the Westminster child abuse scandal.
Dr Chris Murphy, a security and intelligence lecturer at the University of Salford, found the classified document while searching the National Archives in Kew.
While its contents have not been made public, Dr Murphy said he was immediately alerted by the title showing it had been taken to the then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
The title read: “PREM19/588 – SECURITY. Allegations against former public [word missing] of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects 1980 Oct 27 - 1981 Mar 20.”
According to Sky News, the Cabinet Office has been made aware of the file and it will be made available to the ongoing panel inquiry into the alleged existence of a paedophile ring involving senior Westminster figures.
Dr Murphy told the broadcaster: “The fact that this file is concerning the Prime Minister and these allegations are being taken to the Prime Minister I think would strike anybody of being potentially of some interest.”
The embattled inquiry was set up by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to find out whether public bodies had neglected or covered up allegations of child sex abuse in the wake of claims paedophiles had operated in Westminster in the 1980s.
Two chairs of the inquiry, Lady Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf, have already stood down over concerns over their links to the public bodies being investigated.
This week the independent panel suffered a further setback after one of its members claimed she had been “bullied” by the barrister conducting the inquiry, Ben Emmerson QC, who she claimed was “running the show”. He has described the allegations as “entirely baseless”.
--------------------
January 26th 2015
Leon Brittan sex abuse allegations: Two come forward to claim they were abused by former Home Secretary
The Independent
Leon Brittan was today accused of “multiple child rape” as detailed accusations of sex abuse were levelled against the late former Home Secretary for the first time.
Labour MP Tom Watson said he had spoken to two people who claimed they were abused by the Conservative peer, including a witness known as Nick who alleged he had been attacked more than a dozen times as a boy and seen the politician assault others.
Lord Brittan died last week from cancer, aged 75. He had always categorically denied any allegation of sexual wrongdoing or cover-up. Friends and former Cabinet colleagues paying tribute to him said his final months had been unjustly clouded by a “smear campaign” and “innuendo”.
The peer had hitherto been named in relation only to his handling of a dossier containing the names of alleged Establishment paedophiles which he insisted had been passed to police but which could not be found on Home Office files. This is the first time detailed allegations of child sex abuse against the senior Tory have been made public.
Mr Watson, a former defence minister, said he believed the alleged victims he had spoken to were “sincere”.
The MP said he – along with others, including media organisations – had known of the accusations but had decided not to speak out for fear of prejudicing any jury trial that Lord Brittan might have one day faced. Mr Watson told the Sunday Mirror: “It’s not for me to judge whether the claims made against Brittan are true. It’s for the police to investigate these claims as they continue to do so. But I believe the people I’ve spoken to are sincere.”
-----------
January 30th
Westminster 'paedophile ring': Sir Peter Hayman named in secret file
The Telegraph
Former diplomat Sir Peter Hayman has been named as the subject of a secret
file concerning "unnatural sexual proclivities".
The file, which has just been released to the National Archives, names the
late Sir Peter in a report prepared for then prime minister Margaret
Thatcher.
His name had previously been redacted from the file name, which emerged in the
wake of an inquiry into the Home Office's handling of child sexual abuse
allegations.
Sir Peter, who died in 1992, was named as an abuser of children by the MP
Geoffrey Dickens in the 1980s and also had links to the controversial
Paedophile Information Exchange.
The file name, released in full by the National Archives for the first time,
is "PREM 19/588 SECURITY. Sir Peter Hayman: allegations against former
public official of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects."
The PREM designation denotes security files which has passed through the prime minister's office.
Read more
-----------------
January 31st
Margaret Thatcher warned of paedophile scandal, secret documents reveal
The Telegraph
Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister, was kept fully informed about an investigation into a senior diplomat who was embroiled in a paedophile scandal, newly-released secret documents show.
Mrs Thatcher received a stream of memos from officials about the “unnatural sexual proclivities” of Sir Peter Hayman.
The prime minister was carefully coached on how to deflect difficult questions about the affair after it was finally exposed by Private Eye magazine in 1980.
The documents disclosed for the first time that Hayman had been engaged in “sexual perversion” since at least 1966, when he was a minister in the British military government in West Berlin.
The 37-page dossier set out how the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to prosecute the diplomat after he was caught with a collection of paedophile material in 1978
Read more
Feb 3rd
Thatcher stopped officials publicly naming Sir Peter Hayman as suspected paedophile
The Independent
Margaret Thatcher told officials not to publicly name a senior diplomat connected to a paedophile scandal despite being fully briefed on allegations made against him, a newly revealed secret file has shown.
The file was prepared for the late Conservative Prime Minister in the early Eighties, and details allegations of “unnatural“ sexual activity by Sir Peter Hayman in 1966, when he returned from the-West Berlin to the Foreign Office. It also notified Mrs Thatcher that the senior diplomat had been subject to a police investigation, after a parcel containing "obscene materials" was found on a London bus in 1978.
Pornographic materials and personal diaries were also found at his London flat, but Sir Peter was not prosecuted following an investigation into his activities.
The diplomat, who died in 1992, was accused of being a paedophile by MP Geoffrey Dickens under the cloak of parliamentary privilege in 1983, before the file was prepared for the then Prime Minister.
Compiled between October 1980 and March 1981, the 37-page file is now available for public view, and features Mrs Thatcher’s handwritten annotations and notes.
It confirms that Sir Peter was a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) group, and claims he intended to make "contact with adults with whom he could exchange obscene material."
Documents went on to claim that there was “no evidence” Sir Peter had engaged in sexual activity with children, or incited others to do so.
The papers reveal that security services were not told about his activities, because a secretary forgot to pass on a message to an official, and police did not chase up the claims.
The newly revealed documents show that Mrs Thatcher crossed out a line in a paragraph which said Sir Peter should not be named “in the House”, indicating that she though Sir Peter should not be named publicly at all, the Guardian reported.
Sky News reported that the filed existed last month, prompting the Cabinet Office to announce on Friday it would be released to the National Archives.
The revelations come as Home Secretary Theresa May announced she would be launching an inquiry into historical child abuse, during which Sir Peter’s activities will be investigated.
Confirming the decision to release it, a Cabinet Office spokesman said last week: “This file was originally kept closed as it contained information from the security services and advice from the law officers. We have reviewed that decision and have now released the file into the National Archives.”
Additional reporting by PA
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March 30th 2015
Child sex abuse: Judges, MPs, media entertainers, actors, police and clergy implicated in Met Police corruption probe
The Independent
The Metropolitan Police is being investigated over further allegations of corruption in relation to child sex offences dating back to the 1970s, including the claim that evidence gathered against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, clergy and actors was dropped due to police intervention.
The fresh allegations are in addition to the 14 cases being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), revealed earlier this month, dating from the 1970s to the 2000s.
The three new investigations relate to allegations about police suppressing evidence, hindering or halting investigations, and covering up offences due to the involvement of members of parliament and police officers.
One case addressed the allegation that a child abuse investigation in central London, which gathered evidence against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, actors, clergy, and others, was dropped. It has been claimed that two months after the file had been submitted to start proceedings against those identified, an officer was called in by a senior Met officer and told to drop the case.
The two further allegations relate to a child abuse investigation conducted in the 1980s, with one relating directly to police actions in the case.
The Met is already being probed over 14 referrals made to the IPCC detailing alleged corruption in the force relating to child sexual offences, one of which explicitly refers to Dolphin Square, the estate in Pimlico close to the Houses of Parliament where child sex abuse parties attended by MPs are alleged to have taken place.
The PREM designation denotes security files which has passed through the prime minister's office.
The file was found by Dr Chris Murphy, a security and intelligence lecturer at
the University of Salford, as he trawled through National Archives
catalogiues for security documents.
It is understood to contain information from the security services and advice from the Attorney General of the day.
The file is understood to have been opened in October 1980 shortly after Private Eye magazine linked Sir Peter with PIE.
It was already known that police questioned Sir Peter in 1978 after he accidentally left a package of paedophile material on a bus.
The parcel was addressed to a flat he rented in Notting Hill, west London, and it led officers to find a large collection of similar material at the property.
However, Sir Peter was never prosecuted, leading to claims that his offences were covered up due to his diplomatic role and alleged connections with MI6.
Mr Dickens, a Conservative MP, later used parliamentary privilege to name Sir Peter in the House of Commons and to ask about the security risk his paedophile activities might have posed.
Sir Peter Wanless, the head of the NSPCC who conducted an inquiry into the Home Office's handling of abuse allegations, said the file had not been disclosed to him during his investigation last year.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has repeatedly made clear that material relating to possible child sex abuse allegations should be released to the over-arching review she set up last July, and made public where possible.
John Mann MP, who has been instrumental in the campaign on behalf of abuse victims, welcomed the file’s release.
“It is important that these secret files are opened up, so this is potentially a significant development,” he said.
“We need to see more of them being released – in fact, we need to see all of them.”
It is understood to contain information from the security services and advice from the Attorney General of the day.
The file is understood to have been opened in October 1980 shortly after Private Eye magazine linked Sir Peter with PIE.
It was already known that police questioned Sir Peter in 1978 after he accidentally left a package of paedophile material on a bus.
The parcel was addressed to a flat he rented in Notting Hill, west London, and it led officers to find a large collection of similar material at the property.
However, Sir Peter was never prosecuted, leading to claims that his offences were covered up due to his diplomatic role and alleged connections with MI6.
Mr Dickens, a Conservative MP, later used parliamentary privilege to name Sir Peter in the House of Commons and to ask about the security risk his paedophile activities might have posed.
Sir Peter Wanless, the head of the NSPCC who conducted an inquiry into the Home Office's handling of abuse allegations, said the file had not been disclosed to him during his investigation last year.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has repeatedly made clear that material relating to possible child sex abuse allegations should be released to the over-arching review she set up last July, and made public where possible.
John Mann MP, who has been instrumental in the campaign on behalf of abuse victims, welcomed the file’s release.
“It is important that these secret files are opened up, so this is potentially a significant development,” he said.
“We need to see more of them being released – in fact, we need to see all of them.”
Read more
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January 31st
Margaret Thatcher warned of paedophile scandal, secret documents reveal
The Telegraph
Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister, was kept fully informed about an investigation into a senior diplomat who was embroiled in a paedophile scandal, newly-released secret documents show.
Mrs Thatcher received a stream of memos from officials about the “unnatural sexual proclivities” of Sir Peter Hayman.
The prime minister was carefully coached on how to deflect difficult questions about the affair after it was finally exposed by Private Eye magazine in 1980.
The documents disclosed for the first time that Hayman had been engaged in “sexual perversion” since at least 1966, when he was a minister in the British military government in West Berlin.
The 37-page dossier set out how the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to prosecute the diplomat after he was caught with a collection of paedophile material in 1978
Read more
Feb 3rd
Thatcher stopped officials publicly naming Sir Peter Hayman as suspected paedophile
The Independent
Margaret Thatcher told officials not to publicly name a senior diplomat connected to a paedophile scandal despite being fully briefed on allegations made against him, a newly revealed secret file has shown.
The file was prepared for the late Conservative Prime Minister in the early Eighties, and details allegations of “unnatural“ sexual activity by Sir Peter Hayman in 1966, when he returned from the-West Berlin to the Foreign Office. It also notified Mrs Thatcher that the senior diplomat had been subject to a police investigation, after a parcel containing "obscene materials" was found on a London bus in 1978.
A page of the previously secret file (PA)
Pornographic materials and personal diaries were also found at his London flat, but Sir Peter was not prosecuted following an investigation into his activities.
The diplomat, who died in 1992, was accused of being a paedophile by MP Geoffrey Dickens under the cloak of parliamentary privilege in 1983, before the file was prepared for the then Prime Minister.
Compiled between October 1980 and March 1981, the 37-page file is now available for public view, and features Mrs Thatcher’s handwritten annotations and notes.
Sir Peter Hayman was investigated over his connections to the Paedophile Information Exchange (Getty Images)
It confirms that Sir Peter was a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) group, and claims he intended to make "contact with adults with whom he could exchange obscene material."
Documents went on to claim that there was “no evidence” Sir Peter had engaged in sexual activity with children, or incited others to do so.
The papers reveal that security services were not told about his activities, because a secretary forgot to pass on a message to an official, and police did not chase up the claims.
The newly revealed documents show that Mrs Thatcher crossed out a line in a paragraph which said Sir Peter should not be named “in the House”, indicating that she though Sir Peter should not be named publicly at all, the Guardian reported.
A page of the previously secret file (PA)
A section of the previously secret file (PA)
Sky News reported that the filed existed last month, prompting the Cabinet Office to announce on Friday it would be released to the National Archives.
The revelations come as Home Secretary Theresa May announced she would be launching an inquiry into historical child abuse, during which Sir Peter’s activities will be investigated.
Confirming the decision to release it, a Cabinet Office spokesman said last week: “This file was originally kept closed as it contained information from the security services and advice from the law officers. We have reviewed that decision and have now released the file into the National Archives.”
Additional reporting by PA
----------------------------------
March 30th 2015
Child sex abuse: Judges, MPs, media entertainers, actors, police and clergy implicated in Met Police corruption probe
The Independent
The Metropolitan Police is being investigated over further allegations of corruption in relation to child sex offences dating back to the 1970s, including the claim that evidence gathered against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, clergy and actors was dropped due to police intervention.
The fresh allegations are in addition to the 14 cases being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), revealed earlier this month, dating from the 1970s to the 2000s.
The three new investigations relate to allegations about police suppressing evidence, hindering or halting investigations, and covering up offences due to the involvement of members of parliament and police officers.
One case addressed the allegation that a child abuse investigation in central London, which gathered evidence against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, actors, clergy, and others, was dropped. It has been claimed that two months after the file had been submitted to start proceedings against those identified, an officer was called in by a senior Met officer and told to drop the case.
The two further allegations relate to a child abuse investigation conducted in the 1980s, with one relating directly to police actions in the case.
Read more: Met police cover up claims involving MPs and police officers in full
The IPCC said it was also assessing a further six referrals it had received from the Met relating to similar matters.The Met is already being probed over 14 referrals made to the IPCC detailing alleged corruption in the force relating to child sexual offences, one of which explicitly refers to Dolphin Square, the estate in Pimlico close to the Houses of Parliament where child sex abuse parties attended by MPs are alleged to have taken place.
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