VIP abuse accuser fled to Sweden when claims were proved false, court told

By Tom Wilkinson and Henry Clare14th May 2019News EnglandChild Abuse, News England, Non-Recent / Historic Abuse, North East, Sexual Abuse

The man known as Nick – who is accused of lying when he claimed he witnessed child murders and was sexually abused by a VIP Westminster paedophile ring – fled to Sweden when his allegations were proved to be false, a court heard.

Carl Beech (pictured), a 51-year-old father, from Gloucester, is on trial at Newcastle Crown Court where he denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of fraud.

Tony Badenoch QC, prosecuting, said his accusations against powerful figures in the military, politicians and Jimmy Savile, were among the “most heinous” that could be made.

Addressing the jury, Mr Badenoch said the claims were initially made to Wiltshire Police and the Metropolitan Police and led to the £2 million Operation Midland – and elderly suspects such as Lord Brittan, Lord Bramall, who is a former head of the Army, and former MP Harvey Proctor having their homes raided.

When that inquiry was ultimately stopped, Northumbria Police was tasked to look into Beech himself, and his three-bedroom rented property, with his £30,000 Ford Mustang convertible parked outside, was raided.

Mr Badenoch said: “Upon their investigation, in Northumbria, a number of important claims made by Carl Beech when he made the allegations, were found to be provably false.

“He had lied about the content of these allegations, taken active steps to embellish a false story, and then cover his tracks when challenged.

“He made no response when asked to account for this by Northumbria Police and, ultimately, he took the only option that was really available to him, he fled the country and lived overseas as a fugitive.

“That was until a specialist fugitive unit in Sweden worked closely with Northumbria Police and the National Crime Agency to secure his arrest on a European Arrest Warrant executed overseas.

“He was then extradited back to face these charges.”

The court heard Beech had claimed over the course of a number of months and years that he had witnessed “three child murders, multiple rapes, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and widespread sexual abuse”.

He added that the allegations all concerned young boys, saying: “It is quite impossible to conceive of allegations of a worse kind to be made.”

The prosecution described it as an “extraordinary tale”.

In his 40s, Beech claimed that as a schoolboy he had seen “literally dozens” of powerful men in the paedophile ring, at locations ranging four counties, the south coast of England, and all over London, and he was taken out of school one day a week for this to happen.

Mr Badenoch told jurors that a Metropolitan Police officer had at the time described the allegations as “credible and true”, and said the force launched Operation Midland as a result in November 2014.

Beech was given anonymity as a complainant of sexual abuse, and was therefore given the pseudonym Nick.

He said that Lord Brittan had died after his own home was searched and while the investigation into Beech’s claims were still active.

Jurors were told that Mr Proctor will give evidence in the trial and “will answer the false allegations levelled at him by Carl Beech, namely, that he is a sadistic abuser of young boys and a murderer”.

Mr Badenoch said that the three men had all suffered “immeasurable distress” and “reputational damage”, telling how Lord Bramall’s wife had died “whilst the file was still open”.