By Tony O'Riley-
A convicted paedophile who stitched up a number of senior politicians and senior figures with false allegations of murder and child sexual abuse has been found guilty of of perverting the course of justice and fraud.
Carl Beech, 51, from Gloucester was found guilty of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud. He wickedly sparked a £2m Metropolitan Police investigation that resulted in no arrests in no arrests or charges being brought. Lord Brittan died during the investigation without being informed th there was no case against him. Lord Bramall’s wife of more than 60 years also died in 2015 before she heard her husband had been cleared.
Jurors at Newcastle Crown Court took 24 hours to arrive at their verdict after a 12-week trial. Dubbed “Nick” in the British media, Beech accused senior politicians and army and security chiefs of sadistic sexual abuse, and falsely claimed to have witnessed boys being murdered in the 1970s and 1980s. A two-year long Met investigation, called Operation Midland, resulted from the allegations by the former NSPCC volunteer, closed in March 2016.
In a contorted state of mind, Beech alleged the existence of a paedophile network consisting of establishment figures operating in London and elsewhere during the 1970s and 1980s. He was accused of falsely claiming his late stepfather, an Army major, raped him and passed him on to the public figures to be tortured at military bases and sexually abused. Among the victims of his Former prime minister Sir Edward Heath, former Labour MP Lord Janner and ex-MI6 boss Sir Maurice Oldfield were among those he wrongly accused.
He fabricated claims against former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor, accusing him of being directly involved in the murder of two boys . He also falsely implicated the former head of MI5, Sir Michael Hanley, and claimed to have witnessed the killing of Martin Allen, who went missing as a teenager in 1979 and whose fate remains unknown. Some of his targeted victims like Lord Brittan, died during the investigation without ever finding out that the case against them was fictitious and just plain evil. evil, Police would eventually conclude his innocence.
Lord Bramall’s wife of more than 60 years also died in 2015 before she heard her husband had been cleared. It is now beyond doubt that all of these allegations could never have been true and only someone with spectacular bad judgement could think that they might be.
“It is time for an apology from him to me and everyone named or implicated in this truly disgraceful chapter in the history of British policing, which was allowed to happen because of internal failings at the highest level within the Metropolitan Police Service.”
Met Police’s deputy commissioner, Sir Stephen House conceded that his force made errors, but said all officers investigated by the police watchdog in relation to Beech’s case had been found to have been working “in good faith”. He said the Met would strive to identify any additional lessons it could learn from the case – adding that sexual offences cases were a “complex and challenging” part of police work, particularly when allegations related to historic sex abuse.
Image: PA