The lawyer for a former Conservative MP who has been awarded £500,000 in compensation by the police after their bungled investigation into allegations of a VIP paedophile ring has called for the officers involved to be investigated and face dismissal.
Harvey Proctor agreed the settlement with Scotland Yard after being subjected to false accusations of child sexual abuse and murder, with reports putting the total figure he is due to receive at £900,000.
The former MP, whose home was raided as part of the disastrous Operation Midland investigation following fictitious claims made by Carl Beech, is to receive £500,000 in compensation from the Metropolitan police plus nearly £400,000 towards his legal costs.
Proctor’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, said on Friday however that “real questions” remained to be answered by the police that needed to be thoroughly investigated.
“The police had received these false allegations from Carl Beech, who is now serving time for perjury, and they had said that they were ‘credible and true’ even though there were very many warning signs which said they shouldn’t have said that, and indeed their practice now is not to say that,” he said.
“They have been very heavily criticised and until now had refused really to accept responsibility for that and very many people – and Harvey Proctor is the last person alive – but many people, including Lord Brittan and Lord Bramall, had suffered with stains on their characters during their lifetime.
“Thankfully, Harvey Proctor will be able to serve the rest of his life quietly with no stain on his character, really as a result of this large award of vindication.”
The award came after an 18-month legal battle between the former Conservative politician and the police.
Operation Midland, which was conducted by the Metropolitan police in London from November 2014 to March 2016, investigated several high-profile people over accusations of child sexual abuse and homicide. As well as Proctor, there were raids on the homes of the D-day veteran Edwin Bramall and the former home secretary Leon Brittan.
However, the 18-month operation turned out to be based on a series of lies told by Beech, then known as “Nick”. Beech had falsely claimed that he and other boys were raped and tortured in the 1970s and 1980s by members of a paedophile ring. Brittan died before learning he had been exonerated.
