Robert Mendick, chief reporter & Martin Evans - The Telegraph
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has been accused of a cynical cover-up after announcing he will publish a devastating report into Scotland Yard’s inquiry into historic child sex abuse on the day of the US elections.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner disclosed the timing of the report in emails sent on Friday evening to dignitaries and their families who were falsely accused of murder and sexual abuse by a fantasist.
I cannot believe that anybody would be so naive
to think they would get away with this
Senior Scotland Yard source
Operation Midland, which ran for 16 months, collapsed earlier this year but only after police had wrongly raided the home of Field Marshal Lord Bramall, a 92-year-old D-Day veteran; and two houses owned by the widow of Lord Brittan, the former home secretary.
Sir Bernard ordered an inquiry into the catastrophic police failure conducted by Sir Richard Henriques, a retired high court judge.
Only parts of the report, heavily edited by Sir Bernard and his team, will be made public on Tuesday.
One senior Metropolitan Police source said it was “laughable” that Sir Bernard was attempting to bury bad news under the cover of the presidential vote.
Letter from Scotland Yard
“He is treating the public like idiots. It is farcical,” said the source. “This does not smack of competent handling. I cannot believe that anybody would be so naive to think they would get away with this.”
A source close to Operation Midland said: “It is so lamentable it is almost incompetent. It is cretinous they think they can get away with this.”
It is absolutely disgusting that it is deliberately being
released when the eyes of the country will be focused
on the Presidential election.
Daniel Janner QC
A friend of Lord Bramall said: “This doesn’t surprise anybody. Lord Bramall always thought they would bury it in the middle of the American election. And that is exactly what they are doing.”
Daniel Janner QC, whose father Lord Janner was also falsely accused by the fantasist, known only as ‘Nick’ of being a member of the VIP paedophile ring, said: “My family have been waiting for this report for months.
“It is absolutely disgusting that it is deliberately being released when the eyes of the country will be focused on the presidential election.
"The police must be held to account for the way they treated elderly and seriously ill people.”
Harvey Proctor, the former Tory MP, who spent more than a year under investigation over false claims of sex abuse as well as murder, said: “This is wholly crass, stupid and idiotic. If Scotland Yard think that they can conceal their deficiencies like this it only goes to show how stupid they are.
“Bernard Hogan-Howe should not wait until February, he should resign now and his pension arrangements should be looked at.”
The Henriques report, as previously disclosed by The Telegraph, is expected to question why police spent so long investigating the ludicrous claims made by Nick; castigate a senior officer who initially branded them ‘credible and true’; and condemn the raids on the homes of Lord Bramall, Lord Brittan and Mr Proctor.
Nick had falsely claimed he had witnessed three murders and that on one occasion Mr Proctor had tried to castrate him with a penknife but that Sir Edward Heath, the former prime minister, had intervened to spare him injury. Nick also alleged that the former heads of MI5 and MI6 were involved.
not knowing her husband had been exonerated CREDIT: MICHAEL TILLOTSON
Lord Bramall’s wife died in July last year, just four months after the raid on her home and without knowing he had been cleared.
The details of the timing of the publication were disclosed in an email sent by Helen King, an assistant commissioner, to those wrongly accused by Nick.
In the email she wrote: “Our intention is to publish material from the report on Tuesday 8 November. We will be publishing the key findings that Sir Richard has made together with his recommendations and material relating to Operation Midland.”
One can hardly believe all this came about as a result of one uncorroborated witness! Of all the people he accused and all the horrors he accused them of, there had to have been many witnesses. With that kind of judgment, is it any wonder they haven't found any sign of Madeleine McCann?
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