A culture that ‘victims’ must be believed’ was also behind the disastrous probe
for 12 counts of perverting the course of justice, one of fraud and previous charges of voyeurism and possession of indecent images.of dark and sinister figures carrying out abuse on children was examined.
His allegations made between 2012 and 2016 resulted in raids on the homes of D-Day veteran Lord Bramall, Lady Diana Brittan, the widow of former home secretary Leon Brittan and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor. The Met came under fire after it emerged no further action was taken by the Independent Office for Police Conduct after five officers on the case were referred to the watchdog. Downing Street said it was ‘vital’ the public felt the Met had learnt from its mistakes, meanwhile Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has not apologised despite the report detailing pressure he put on police to pursue the case.Watson said the report contains numerous ‘inaccuracies’ about him Beech fabricated an array of bizarre accusations of torture and sexual abuse against prominent figures who had done nothing wrong Today’s underacted report said: ‘Whilst the responsible officers assert that they kept an open mind, several failures can only be explained by an unwarranted and disproportionate belief in ‘Nick’s’ credibility. ‘The most significant error in this investigation was the decision to apply for search warrants coupled with formulating inaccurate statements which were placed before the district judge.‘But for that decision, this investigation may well have been completed without the dreadful adverse consequences I have described.’ Sir Richard said warrants to search suspects homes were ‘obtained unlawfully’ after the magistrate who sanctioned them was ‘misled’ by written applications claiming Beech was a ‘credible witness’ with ‘consistent’ accounts. He adds: ”Nick’s’ account had not been consistent throughout. Further, there were, in my judgement no reasonable grounds to believe ‘Nick’ and the statement that he had told the truth was not consistent with information then available.’ Mr Proctor said the Met’s commissioner Cressida Dick should ‘consider her position’, accusing her of showing ‘no leadership or professional ability to insist on investigation into Beech himself.’Several disturbing drawings appearing to depict abuse were examined during Beech’s trial The former politician said police involved in the case ‘lacked common sense and yielded to intense pressure from Tom Watson’. He branded Watson ‘an irresponsible politician out for his own publicity in to galvanise his advancement to become deputy leader of the Labour Party’. Mr Proctor’s barrister, Geoffrey Robertson QC, said: ‘Operation Midland was conducted incompetently, negligently and almost with institutional stupidity. ‘The allegations were inherently incredible, there was not a shred of evidence during or after they were investigated and Beech had already been shown by another police force to be a fantasist.’Watson said the report contains ‘multiple inaccuracies’ about him which he says has been ‘selectively leaked’ in a bid to move the spotlight away from the Met.He said the findings do not make it clear that Lord Brittan was interviewed by police before they received his letter, which sir Richard said sent officers into a ‘panic’. The MP for West Bromwich added: ‘I have always said that it wasn’t my place to judge whether sexual abuse allegations were true or false – that was for the police. ‘The police asked me to encourage the hundreds of people that came to me with stories of child abuse to report their stories to the police. That is what I did.’
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