Harvey Proctor demands apology over handling of child abuse probe

By The Press Association21st March 2016News EnglandChild Abuse, News England, Non-Recent / Historic Abuse, Sexual Abuse

Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor has demanded three politicians apologise and Scotland Yard face an inquiry over their handling of child abuse allegations that implicated him.

Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson, fellow Labour MP John Mann and London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith “should hang their heads in shame”, he said, for making “self-serving” comments on claims that a VIP child sex ring ran out of Westminster.

The former member for Basildon and Billericay called for a public inquiry into Operation Midland, the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into allegations of the sexual abuse of several young boys at the hands of high-profile figures.

Mr Proctor, who has staunchly maintained his innocence, is understood to be the last living person under investigation by the probe that was sparked by allegations made by a solitary witness known as “Nick”.

He accused the Met and other police forces of being “the leakiest of bodies” after details of their investigation, including a search of his home in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, appeared in the media.

The resulting coverage “engulfed me and destroyed my life”, he wrote, as he issued a plea to Parliament to “redress the imbalance in the law in favour of people alleging sexual abuse”.

Mr Proctor previously revealed he faced allegations of murder, rape and abuse of young boys as part of of a group of men who abused children in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the letter he criticised some of today’s politicians who, he said, have “courted press attention and constituency idolatry” by publicly commenting on the claims.

He wrote: “The likes of Tom Watson, John Mann (who described me on the day of my house search as “the first of many”) and Zac Goldsmith should hang their heads in shame – I doubt they will do so as by their words they have shown themselves to be the antithesis of their sobriquet in parliamentary terms, “honourable” men.

“I only hope in their lives they never face the turmoil that their varying degrees of encouragement to fantasists and the police has caused me this past year.”

Scotland Yard is reportedly on the verge of making an announcement on the future of Operation Midland, although a Met spokesman declined to comment.

Detectives and the Met Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, have come under fierce criticism for their handling of the investigation and recently issued an apology to former armed forces chief Lord Bramall, after the case against him was dropped.

“Operation Midland, and its ineptitude, should be investigated by Parliament and the lessons learnt applied to all cases,” Mr Proctor wrote, adding: “The Met, and other police constabularies, are the ‘leakiest’ of bodies.

“Currently to pass on such information to the press or third parties is a disciplinary offence; it should be a criminal one.”

He also attacked the police for stating publicly that they thought Nick’s claims were “credible and true” as he called for Parliament to investigate the probe.

However he also called on MPs to support Mr Hogan-Howe to “to stand up to the bullying of the child abuse fantasists on the internet”, as well as make internet companies such as Google liable to defamation laws.

Mr Proctor was MP for Basildon between 1979 and 1983 before representing Billericay until 1987, when he left Parliament after pleading guilty to acts of gross indecency.