VIP abuse accuser faced £70,000 debts before making allegations, court told
The man accused of lying about a Westminster VIP paedophile gang faced household debts of £70,000 the year before he made his allegations to police, and was later paid £22,000 in criminal injuries compensation, a court heard.
Carl Beech, 51, used almost half of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) money as a down payment for a £34,000 Ford Mustang, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Jurors were also told that he had a £30,400 motorhome repossessed in 2013, and even after it was sold he remained £6,000 in debt to the credit firm, which he was paying off at £100 a month.
The former nurse from Gloucester denies a fraud charge relating to his CICA claim, in which he said he had been physically, sexually and emotionally abused by his stepfather, who “gave” him to a group of 20 paedophiles.
He also denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice relating to those allegations in which he named senior figures.
Financial investigator Nolan Robinson carried out analysis of the defendant’s bank accounts for Northumbria Police.
Mr Robinson said that in 2010 Beech’s monthly salary from Gloucester Hospitals was between £2,600 and £2,900.
His ex-partner Dawn has said their combined debt in 2011 was in the region of £70,000, and she will explain to jurors how she calculated that figure, the court heard.
Mr Robinson said the pattern for Beech’s spending was for him to be paid his salary, to cover some direct debits and to withdraw the remainder in cash, sometimes going overdrawn, and so occasionally being unable to satisfy other direct debits.
He received £19,425 in redundancy from the hospital trust in 2011, some of which was used to cover credit card bills.
His first monthly salary payment from the Care Quality Commission in February 2012 was for £3,812, the court heard, and shortly after his bank balance was just £2.
His CICA payment was received in April 2015 and Mr Robinson said about £4,000 went on living expenses and he put £16,000 in a savings account.
In November that year he used £9,750 of those savings as a down payment on the Ford Mustang from Bristol Street Motors, with a finance agreement covering a further £24,000 for the white convertible.
Earlier, the court heard how Beech (pictured) applied for the CICA payment in 2013, then complained at the length of time it took for his application to be processed.
In his online application he said he had been abused over nine years between 1975 and 1984.
He wrote: “My stepfather started to physically and sexually abuse me from the age of seven and then gave me to a group of men who continued to hurt me until the age of 15.”
He said he did not initially report the abuse due to fears for his safety, but later gave videoed witness statements to Wiltshire Police in 2012 and later to the Metropolitan force.
The court heard Beech claimed the late Jimmy Savile may have been one of his abusers, and there was some delay to his CICA payment as the organisation queried whether he had applied for damages to the disgraced TV presenter’s estate.
In one of his complaints about the hold-up, Beech wrote to the CICA saying: “I have not been able to pay my counsellor for a long time because I just cannot afford it.
“The CICA was supposed to help victims of crime, not make things worse.”
The trial continues.
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