Radio 4 ‘Today’ broadcast 31st January 2015.
Monthly Archives: January 2015
PREM19/588 : The Peter Hayman File
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Filed under Abuse
Is This Actually What A Paedophile Ring Looks Like ?
A genuine question. I’d be interested in what others think.
Filed under Abuse
Quick! We Need ‘Political Balance.’
“We need to get something out quick the Tory mandarins are climbing up the wall. What have we got ?”
“Janner?”
“Is anything going to happen ?”
“Well… probably not but we can always just say that a ‘decision will be made as soon as is practicable.’ It throws his name out there, it doesn’t commit anyone to any meaningful course of action, and gives the impression that there’s political balance.”
“A bit like paedophile proportional representation you mean? I like it. do it!”
Prosecutors are considering charging an elderly Labour peer with child sex offences and have promised a decision “soon”.
Greville Janner, 86, has not been arrested in connection with the allegations.
Crown Prosecution Service lawyers are now considering if there is enough evidence to charge him after recently being handed a full file of evidence for the first time.
If they decide there is they will consider if it is in the “public interest” to prosecute taking into account his age and health.
The new CPS statement comes after calls for inquiries into allegations of historical child sex abuse to be speeded up following the death of Leon Brittan last week.
Lord Brittan passed away after a long fight with cancer – leaving unanswered questions about his role in the disappearance of a dossier said to reveal the existence of an abuse network at the top of government.
Filed under Abuse
Correction And Direction
I have been recently contacted by someone extremely reliable who directed me to a comment left by Justin Sanity on this blog. Effectively that person suggested to me that this comment was more accurate than any other public accounts and that the author, Justin, very obviously knew what he was talking about.
That person also made it clear to me that Leon Brittan was not involved in the primary allegation of sexual abuse at Elm Guest House and that stories that Lord Brittan had been were inaccurate at best, and at worst verging on fantasy.
I accept what that person had to say and I believe that person.
My only interest in the Elm Guest House story from this point onward is to get an answer to the question; ‘Just how did this entire issue become so muddied and damaging to so many innocent people ?’
Found it! I found that article in The Telegraph, by David Barrett, Tim Tate and Christopher Hope, where I first read a claim that the Elm Guest House child victim – now an adult living in the US – had confirmed Leon Brittan as an abuser: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10950138/Westminster-paedophile-ring-allegations-Scotland-Yard-detectives-trace-victim.html
“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.[ LIES! ]
However, the alleged victim – who was initially willing to co-operate – has so far refused to make a formal statement to British detectives”.“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. [Bullsh*t] During his original interview in 1982 the child referred to his abuser working at “the big house” [no, he didn’t], 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” [more lies] 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. [No, he was “reluctant” to be bullied into stating that the boy said anything at all about an “Uncle Leon” – because that is a lie!]
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”.Nonsense! This whole storyline is so obviously fraudulent…I don’t know what to say. I really believed there was a sincere campaign to uncover and comprehend the truth, but it is becoming more & more clear to me that the campaign has really been about constructing a web of lies that would justify FRAMING an innocent man for crimes he never committed. I’m just shocked that so many respectable and respected persons publicly support all of this – not least of which being Mark Williams-Thomas and Tom Watson. OMG!
The real story: Lee Towsey never mentions Carole Kasir’s son, which means he was probably never at Elm Guest House and the whole “little queen” story is another of Fay’s fabrications. Kasir’s son was taken into care because his parents were convicted of “keeping a disorderly house” and judged to be unfit parents on that basis. Fay might actually have been “at the police station”, but he was never a real social worker, so more likely he was there as a friend of the Kasir family. The boy never said anything about “uncle leon” or “the big house”, so there never was anything mysteriously omitted from the police report. Op. Fernbridge probably did make contact with him, as an adult living in the US, and no doubt he simply refused to talk to them. Someone decided to take advantage of his total disinterest in discussing the subject with anyone, by falsely claiming that he had “made a full statement” and “named the politician” but later “changed his mind and refused to co-operate”.
Filed under Personal
Ben Emmerson QC at the HASC
Full session of Ben Emmerson QC, Counsel to the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, answering questions from the Home Affairs Select Committee on 26th January 2015.
This session was requested by the HASC Chair (Keith Vaz MP) following Sharon Evans’ (inquiry panel member) appearance at the HASC last week (20th January), where she made allegations against Mr Emmerson.
Link to related documents and letters:
Link to Sharon Evans evidence (20th Jan’15)
Link to Sharon Evans C4 broadcast 5th Jan’15
MMM MMM MMM MMM
Mmm… indeed
So do we talk about this like adults or brush it under the carpet because we find it an embarrassing subject ?
Filed under Abuse
Leon Brittan – A guest post by Tim Tate on the investigations into and evidence relating to him
Filed under Uncategorized
Tory Mandarins ‘Close Ranks’ Following Leon Brittan’s Death
You’d have thought that these senior Tories who when asked to comment on an embarrassing development are the first to hide behind the need to not jeopardise ongoing police investigations when it suits them, would refrain from pressuring others to go public with information which might still be part of an important police investigation into VIP paedophiles.
I’ve a message for them;
The police will not be cowed by establishment pressure from political has-beens. The police will not be given the bum’s rush because friends of a person who has come under police investigation think that he will be exonerated if more information is made public prematurely.
The Tories claim to be the party of law and order. That espoused respect for the law seems to be distinctly absent as they use the power of the Tory media to put pressure on the police with these juvenile responses.
“Put up or ‘shut up'” a playground response to a grown up issue.
Politicians fuelling rumours about Leon Brittan’s involvement in a Westminster cover up of child abuse were this morning ordered to come clean about what they know or ‘shut up’.
Former Cabinet colleague John Gummer, now Lord Deben, said MPs were ‘making innuendos and insinuations in order to make themselves look as if they know something when they don’t’. He said it was ‘wicked’ to make allegations without any evidence.
The Tory peer’s outburst comes after campaigning MP Simon Danczuk said Lord Brittan’s death was a ‘sad day’ for the victims of child abuse who wanted to question the former home secretary about the missing ‘Dickens dossier’ of paedophile allegations handed to him in the 1980s.
Filed under Abuse, Fernbridge, News, Politics
Leon Brittan Accused Of Attempting To Smuggle Child Abuse Images Into UK.
I’m very grateful to journalist Tim Tate for leaving this comment, quoted below, which has confirmed my suspicions about the provenance of The Daily Telegraph story, also quoted below, which alleges that Leon Brittan had been caught trying to smuggle indecent images of children into Dover while he had been an EU Commissioner in the late 1980s.
Tim Tate is on the byline of the original Daily Telegraph story
“Almost a year ago I interviewed a very senior detective who was handling the Brittan investigation. He was very clear that the Customs Officer (referred to above) had made a clear and credible statement about stopping Brittan at Dover, and seizing child pornography video tapes from him. The Customs Officer stated that he viewed the tapes and was able to describe what was on them.
That statement is – or should be – still held at the Metropolitan Police station from which the investigation was conducted.
I believe that it is essential that the historic child abuse enquiry – assuming it survives – is given a copy of the statement.” – Tim Tate
A senior Tory politician said to be part of a child sex ring was allegedly stopped by a customs officer with child pornography videos but got off scot-free, police have been told.
The former MP was driving back to the UK via Dover when a customs officer pulled him over because he was “acting suspiciously”. The border guard, who is now retired, has told detectives that when he searched the MP’s car he found videotapes of children “clearly under the age of 12” taking part in sex acts.
He passed the material on to his superiors, but the MP was never arrested or charged.
Filed under Abuse, Fernbridge, News, Politics
Was Leon Brittan A Paedophile ?
Leon Brittan has died, he was aged 75.
You’ll find fulsome obituaries elsewhere and perhaps even praise but I want to focus on the truth, or not, of the allegations that Leon Brittan was a paedophile.
Over the last two years there have been many rumours and news stories alleging that Leon Brittan was a paedophile, though you may not have realised as he has invariably been euphemistically alluded to as “a former senior Tory cabinet minister” or something similar. There had been some concern among journalists, and even this blogger, that the continued and ubiquitous use of this term might itself have become so synonymous with Leon Brittan that its use might itself have precipitated legal action if Lord Brittan decided to take that route.
The allegations are not new they go back to the early 1980s at least, as Bernhard Ingham, former press secretary to Margaret Thatcher, has confirmed recently to Sky News, he was aware of the allegations at the time and even asked him about them at the time. I’ve also talked to journalists who investigated these rumours in the late 1980s.
Clearly now that Leon Brittan is dead, I’m free from legal constraints and I can say exactly as I wish but just because I can write what I wish, doesn’t mean that I should. Ultimately, I’m only interested in the truth and not rumours.
About 15 months ago I discussed the allegations with a source close to an investigation looking into these and other similar allegations. I asked the source directly whether he thought that Leon Brittan was a paedophile. After a pause he replied that in his view 80% of the allegations were false but that the remaining 20% of allegations left him with the view that Leon Brittan did indeed have an unhealthy sexual interest in children.
It is with this in mind that I will refrain from repeating every allegation that has been swirling around the internet over the last two years because I agree with that source, there are many allegations that are false, as an example, there has been a suggestion that the police have a video of Lord Brittan at a “sex party”. This story is untrue.
So, I’m going to lay to one side all of the stories that I believe make up the 80% of false allegations and look instead at the allegations that I believe make up the 20% of allegations that have substance, or at the least raise questions that need answering.
I’ll touch briefly on the allegation that he raped a 19 year old female student, who is referred to in the press as ‘Jane’, in 1967. My view is that this allegation is credible but it is also my belief that after such a long time, and with no evidence beyond the victim’s word against Lord Brittan’s, a successful prosecution would have been very unlikely and that if the CPS had decided to proceed it would have put a great deal of pressure on the victim ‘Jane’ with little result. But for clarity, I believe her.
The second allegation I wish to mention is the one related to Elm Guest House.
It is my belief that the Daily Mail story, extract quoted below, refers to Leon Brittan. I say this because I had heard very similar accounts from other sources before this story had been published, some close to events at the time. I just didn’t have the first hand source/sources that The Mail had and so I couldn’t publish.
I’d recommend that readers, read this story once again.
The man recalled that during the boy’s testimony at Richmond Police Station, he had spoken of an abuser whom he called ‘Uncle XXXXX’. This abuser worked ‘at the big houses’, the boy said.
As the boy talked, at least two of those officials present came to independent realisations of his testimony’s significance.
If ‘Uncle XXXXX’ had done what was alleged, this was not just a sordid suburban scandal, but one of national importance.
I should note here that the victim in that Elm Guest House story has not felt able to co-operate with the police, hence no action could realistically be taken.
Another credible allegation is that Leon Brittan was stopped by British Customs trying to enter Dover with indecent images of children in the late 1980s while he was with the European Commission. This story, below, refers to that allegation.
A senior Tory politician said to be part of a child sex ring was allegedly stopped by a customs officer with child pornography videos but got off scot-free, police have been told.
The former MP was driving back to the UK via Dover when a customs officer pulled him over because he was “acting suspiciously”. The border guard, who is now retired, has told detectives that when he searched the MP’s car he found videotapes of children “clearly under the age of 12” taking part in sex acts.
He passed the material on to his superiors, but the MP was never arrested or charged.
I am very aware that there will be many who will be disappointed that I’ve not related other allegations. As I’ve tried to make clear I want to stick only to those that I believe can be substantiated. If the victim at Elm Guest House speaks out then that allegation can be substantiated, if documentation exists, as it should, that Leon Brittan was stopped by a customs officer trying to enter the UK with indecent images, that too can be substantiated.
Filed under Abuse, Fernbridge, News, Politics
Full Statement From The Inquiry Panel Regarding HASC Hearing
PRESS STATEMENT
Panel Presentation to Home Affairs Select Committee: Tuesday 20 January 3.30pm
Following today’s appearance at the Home Affairs Select Committee the panel states:
Today we outlined that the work of the panel is underway.
The panel has full confidence in the integrity, advice and impartiality of Counsel to the Inquiry. We accept the advice provided was robust but do not accept any statements about bullying. We reject any suggestion that the panel has been intimidated.
Signed:
Drusilla Sharpling
Jenny Pearce
Ivor Frank
Terence Stephenson
Moira Gibb
Graham Willmer
Barbara Hearn
Charles Napier’s Sentence Not Unduly Lenient.
In December Charles Napier was sentenced to 13 years for grooming and assaulting 21 victims. He’d pleaded guilty to 28 charges of indecent assault on children as young as eight years old.
That is only seven and a half months per boy he sexually assaulted or five and a half months for each sexual assault he pleaded guilty to.
Of course he’ll probably be out of prison in half the time, so divide those times by two.
Nevertheless, the Attorney General will not refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.
Dear ….
Thank you for your email to the Attorney General’s Office regarding the sentencing of Charles Napier.
The Law Officers have the power to refer sentences passed in certain Crown Court cases to the Court of Appeal for review, if they consider, having regard to relevant sentencing guidelines and previous decisions of the Court of Appeal in similar cases, that the sentence is ‘unduly lenient’.
The Court of Appeal will not increase a sentence unless they are satisfied that it is significantly below that which any judge could reasonably have set having regard to the sentencing guidelines and tariffs set by the courts in similar cases.
Decisions on whether or not to refer cases are taken only after very careful consideration of the facts and the circumstances of the case and the relevant sentencing law and guidelines.
Having carefully reviewed the papers, the Attorney General has concluded that if the sentence imposed on Charles Napier was referred to the Court of Appeal, the Court would not increase the sentences. He has therefore decided not to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.
Yours sincerely
Peter Hayman: ‘Unnatural Sexual Proclivities’ File
As Murun Buchstansangur has correctly pointed out, the most likely person referred to in the ‘Unnatural Sexual Proclivities’ File is paedophile Sir Peter Hayman.
Scanning the Sky News story we come up with a few identifying facts.
1) The person is described as “former public” [figure/servant?] . Sir Peter Hayman was High Commissioner in Canada 1970–74 before officially retiring.
2) The file covers a time period between 1980 Oct 27 – 1981 Mar 20. These dates coincide with the first stories regarding Hayman in Private Eye.
3) There are “Security Aspects”. We’ve not been able to corroborate the suggestion that Hayman was Deputy Director of MI6 but there is no doubt that he was involved in British Intelligence. My best guess is that he was connected to British Intelligence through the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and not MI6.
I’d lay good money that this report is the consequence of the “full investigation” that Douglas Hurd referred to on 17th March 1981.
HC Deb 17 March 1981
Mr. Dickens
asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether, in view of the references to the conduct of a former senior civil servant of the Ministry of Defence in the case of Regina v Thomas O’Carroll and others, he will cause an investigation to be made of the extent to which a security risk occurred at the posts at which that official served.
Mr. Hurd
I have been asked to reply.
The security authorities have carried out a full investigation. This has revealed nothing to suggest that security has been prejudiced.
Incidently, Douglas Hurd was a junior MoD minister at the time and not a Foreign Office minister as would likely be the case if the security implications related to MI6.
So, I’m fairly confident that this file refers to paedophile Sir Peter Hayman.
What is new is that we now know that the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was almost certainly personally briefed about Hayman as this file is marked with the ‘PREM’ prefix.
A secret Government file has been unearthed that documents “unnatural” sexual behaviour taking place when the Westminster paedophile scandal was at its height.
It has been kept under lock and key for 35 years on grounds of national security – but will now be released to the child abuse inquiry established by the Government.
Security and intelligence expert Dr Chris Murphy stumbled across it last November while searching documents at the National Archives in Kew.
He was immediately alerted by the title: “PREM19/588 – SECURITY. Allegations against former public [word missing] of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects 1980 Oct 27 – 1981 Mar 20.”
“I was looking through the ‘PREM’ Prime Minister file series for the 1980s,” the University of Salford lecturer told Sky News.
“I think I did a double-take and then started wondering what the potential implications of the title, which is a little vague, could be.”
It is highly likely then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher saw the documents, and was briefed on the security implications, but the identities of those within them remain secret.
HASC: Panel Members 20th January 2015
Witnesses from the Independent panel inquiry into child sexual abuse appearing before the Home Affairs Select Committee 2oth January 2015.
Witnesses are; Drusilla Sharpling CBE, Member, Professor Jenny Pearce OBE, Member, Sharon Evans, Member, and Professor Alexis Jay OBE, Expert Advisor, Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
This part of the HASC hearing includes Sharon Evans’ allegations against Ben Emmerson whose statement in response can be read HERE
Ben Emmerson QC: Full Statement
Following the evidence given this afternoon by Sharon Evans at the Home Affairs Select Committee, Ben Emmerson QC said this afternoon:
“The effective operation of any public inquiry requires that panel members are able to hold full and frank discussions in confidence and take collective responsibility for their decisions. This is reflected in the terms of their appointment which provide that the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information is a breach of contract justifying immediate termination.
Sharon Evans has repeatedly disclosed confidential information in public and has made a number of public statements that are factually misleading. These were serious violations of her duties as a panel member and undermine the integrity of the inquiry and the confidence of victims and survivors.
It was my clear duty as counsel to the inquiry to bring these breaches to the attention of the panel and the Home Office. I also pointed them out clearly to Ms. Evans herself on a number of occasions, and it was this which led her to accuse me of bullying her.
These allegations of bullying and intimidation are entirely baseless. As the Home Office will confirm, Ms. Evans’ complaints have already been fully investigated and dismissed as unfounded, something she neglected to mention when she gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee this afternoon.
The advice that I gave Ms. Evans was legally correct and entirely necessary in the circumstances.”
ENDS
Ben Emmerson QC| Matrix Chambers
HASC: Lynne Featherstone MP 20th Jan 2015
Lynne Featherstone MP, Minister of State for Crime Prevention, being questioned by Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, on 20th Jan 2015. This session was just prior to the HASC session with four members from the independent panel inquiry into child sexual abuse. It had been reported that intimidation of the panel members had occurred, and Vaz was asking the responsible minister for clarification.
theneedleblog 