What do we know about politicians and child abuse at Westminster?
A number of allegations have been made. So far the only politician to have been implicated is the Liberal MP Cyril Smith, who died in 2010, but other unnamed politicians were also alleged to have been involved in a Westminster paedophile ring. Smith is alleged to have abused boys at Knowl View residential school in Rochdale and at Elm Guest House, in Barnes in south-west London, in the 1970s and 80s.” Greater Manchester police are investigating allegations of abuse by Smith at Knowl View, where Smith was a governor. Other MPs were said to have attended the Elm Guest House. Following claims made by the Labour MP Tom Watson in 2012, the Metropolitan police launched Operation Fairbank into child abuse at the guesthouse. Watson said there was “clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to parliament and No10”.
A dossier of evidence of an alleged paedophile ring, involving several MPs, including Smith, and other public figures, was handed to the Home Office in 1983, by the Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, who died in 1995. The 40-page dossier has since been destroyed or lost, according to a Home Office review. The Crown Prosecution Service has conceded that Smith should have been prosecuted after rejecting claims against him in 1970, 1998 and 1999.
What happened at Elm Guest House?
At least three MPs were reported to have been questioned in 1982 after a police raid on the guesthouse. It was reported at the time that it was being used brothel where children as young as 10 were abused. Two children living in the house were taken into care. The guesthouse was reported to have been used as a brothel for two years before it was raided. Officers found whips, chains and ropes. “They catered for every kind of perversion,” an officer told the News of World at the time. The owners of Elm Guest House, Haroon and Carol Kasir, were subsequently convicted of running a brothel. The property was later turned into flats.
Who were the alleged victims?
Vishal Mehrotra was eight years old when he disappeared in 1981 after watching the royal wedding procession before the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. He was last seen a mile from the Elm Guest House on Rocks Lane, which was also close to his home in Putney. Part of Vishal’s remains were found in a wood in West Sussex in 1982. His disappearance was reported to be linked to a police raid on the guesthouse later that year. At the time Scotland Yard also linked its inquiries into the guesthouse with the disappearance of Martin Allen, who was 15 when he went missing on 5 November 1979 in Earl’s Court. Allen’s brother, Kevin, has now urged the police to reopen the investigation and said that he suspects a cover-up.
What are the new allegations?
Vishal’s father, Vishambar Mehrotra, said he recorded a telephone call with a male prostitute in 1981 who said Vishal could have been taken to Elm Guest House after being abducted. Mehrotra, a retired magistrate and solicitor, told the Telegraph that the police refused to investigate, because clients of the guesthouse included judges and politicians. The prostitute “talked about judges and politicians who were abusing little boys,” Mehrotra told the paper. “It is clear to me there has been a huge cover-up.”
What are the police investigating?
Last week the Metropolitan police said they were investigating possible murders linked to the Elm Guest House as part of Operation Midland. An alleged victim claimed to have witnessed the murder of three boys at the guesthouse. One of the victims was reported to have been strangled by a Conservative MP in a sex game. This operation was prompted by Operation Fernbridge, a wider investigation into a child abuse ring connected to the Elm Guest House. Operation Midland is specifically looking at homicides linked to child abuse.
