Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has apologised for the Operation Midland - a botched investigation into a 'VIP pedophile ring' that did not exist.
Breaking her silence on the failure of an investigation Commissioner Dick said: “I am deeply sorry for the mistakes that were made”.
Last week a report said the main cause of the Metropolitan Police's disastrous investigation into claims of a VIP paedophile ring in Westminster was "poor judgment and a failure to accurately evaluate known facts".
The Met Police has published more details of a critical review into its investigation of fabricated claims that a VIP Westminster paedophile ring operated in the 1970s and 1980s.
Former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques also said a "major contributing factor was the culture that 'victims' must be believed" in his findings, more of which were published by the force on Friday after coming under pressure to be open and transparent.
In an extraordinary statement, Commissioner Dick added: "My predecessor apologised to Lord Bramall, Lady Brittan and Harvey Proctor. I have too. I repeat that apology again today.
"Last week we took the extraordinary step to publish Sir Richard Henriques' review of Operations Midland and Vincente.
"I am grateful for his significant and wide-ranging report and Sir Richard's continued determination to improve our work and its oversight.
"Although we don't accept all its recommendations, we have sought to embed all those which are relevant into our everyday practices.
"These will now be subject to an inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate at the request of the Home Secretary, and I absolutely welcome that."
Carl Beech, once only known in media reports as "Nick", made the claims of a Westminster VIP paedophile ring dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.
He was convicted of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud and sentenced to 18 years in prison in July.
The Metropolitan Police investigated his allegations, raiding homes and interviewing alleged suspects - but the £4 million Operation Midland ended without making a single arrest.
