Police who probed false VIP paedophile abuse ring claims from Carl Beech 'broke law'

Sir Richard Henriques, a former High Court judge, says warrants to raid senior figures' homes were wrongly issued.

By Aubrey Allegretti, news reporte,

Image: Carl Beech was jailed for 18 years last week

Police broke the law while investigating what turned out to be a false VIP child abuse scandal, a former High Court judge has said.
Sir Richard Henriques slammed officers for getting warrants to search the homes of Normandy veteran Field Marshal Lord Bramall, ex-home secretary Lord Brittan and former MP Harvey Proctor.

He said the documents were obtained "unlawfully" because the police failed to flag "fundamentally inconsistent" testimony from fantasist Carl Beech.

Image: Among the accused were (left to right) Harvey Proctor, Lord Bramall and Lord Brittan

Officers gave a "false and misleading" impression of the man jailed for 18 years, added the judge, who wrote a scathing report in 2016 for Scotland Yard into its investigation.
Beech, 51 and a former NHS manager, was found guilty last week of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud.

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His claims of torture, rape and abuse by senior politicians, military chiefs and the heads of MI5 and MI6 were pursued by the Metropolitan Police in a £2.5m investigation known as Operation Midland.

The investigation was dropped years later without a single arrest.

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Sir Richard led the police's review into how they handled the case, finding more than 40 areas of concern.
Now he has revealed for the first time how the Metropolitan Police failed to declare "numerous inconsistencies" in Beech's testimony - and called for a criminal inquiry.
Writing in the Daily Mail, he named six pieces of evidence which "undermined Beech's credibility" and should have been declared by police seeking warrants from a judge.
As soon as permission was given for the homes to be searched, Beech "immediately" informed a news agency, Sir Richard wrote, which resulted in an "avalanche of dreadful publicity" for the accused figures.
He added: "If any police officer drafted, reviewed, promoted or signed an application for a search warrant stating that Beech had remained consistent whilst knowing he had not been consistent, such an officer would be guilty not only of misconduct, but also of intending to pervert the course of justice."
Beech was described as a "credible witness", Sir Richard said.
"Thus the course of justice was perverted with shocking consequences.
"A criminal investigation should surely follow."

Image: Sir Stephen House said officers on the case worked in good faith

He also said: "I remain unable to conclude that every officer acted with due diligence and in good faith.
"I concluded in 2016 - and I remain of the view - that the officers responsible for the three applications did not in fact fully believe that there were reasonable grounds to believe Beech's allegations."
Mr Proctor said he was "pleased" with Sir Richard's comments and was also of the view that there should be a criminal investigation.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House last week insisted officers on the case had worked in good faith.
He promised an "internal debrief" would take place to identify whether lessons could be learned.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has said no officers will face misconduct charges over the case