A Great Injustice & Rules of Evidence

by Les May

AN apology to Mr Harvey Proctor from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police may be something of a moral victory for him, but it will do little to help him take up the threads of his life again.  The clock cannot be put back to a time before he was suddenly thrust into the limelight by what can only be described as somewhat bizarre allegations against him.  

But it is all too easy to simply blame the police for what happened and ignore the fact that to some degree we have all contributed to the context in which this kind of misguided approach to investigating serious allegations could happen.  It’s a context in which Harvey Proctor, Paul Gambaccini, Cliff Richard and others, are seen as no more than ‘collateral damage’.

The ending of the 2015-2016 session of Parliament meant that Sir Keir Starmer’s Private Members Victims of Crime Etc (Rights, Entitlements and Related Matters) Bill never got further than its first reading.  Had it passed into law it would have further weakened the rights of an accused.  A victim would have been defined as a person who has suffered harm which was directly caused by a criminal offence or in some cases even a close relative would be treated as a victim.

‘As stipulated in the Bill, no complaint need be made or determination of guilt found in order for a “victim” to exist.  Most obviously, the question arises as to how a criminal offence can have occurred without the matter having been proved in court?’  

https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/comment/blogs/criminal-law-blog/a-critical-analysis-of-sir-keir-starmers-victims-of-crime-etc-rights-entitlements-and-related-matters-bill

Lord Macdonald, QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003 to 2008, took issue with the philosophy underpinning the Bill.  Speaking to the Today programme, he said:

'… the worst miscarriages of justice I have seen in my career have resulted from blinkered investigations in which the police [have] believed a theory at the start of the case and then gone on to 'prove' that theory.  This supposedly pro-victims' rights stance of saying we believe the victims at the outset is precisely what we don't want.  We don't want the police deciding what the truth is before the investigation starts …  Not everyone who tells the police that they have been a victim of crime is telling the truth, it leads to the police believing people who are telling lies.'

He went on to say: 'The victims’ rights movement was born from the best of reasons, but it is now leading to an imbalance in the justice system that threatens basic fairness.'

And ‘basic fairness’ is an issue in the Harvey Proctor case because Starmer had already issued guidelines in 2013 which were supposed ‘to be applied to all cases where a sexual offence has been committed against a child or young person’.  (Note this interesting distinction between a ‘child’ and a ‘young person’.)

These include, ‘Arrangements for early consultation and joint work between police and prosecutors to agree a case strategy and address evidential issues head on.’

http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/latest_news/cps_launches_guidelines_on_child_sexual_abuse/  

Were these guidelines followed?  Did the police and prosecutors agree a case strategy?  Were evidential issues addressed head on?

If so why is it only the police that are ‘in the dock’?  Why are we not seeing a similar apology from the CPS?  Or is it that the police chose to ignore Starmer’s 2013 guidelines about consulting with prosecutors at an early stage and fell into the very trap which Lord Macdonald so clearly sees as a likely outcome of Starmer’s more recent intervention?

But ranged against Lord Macdonald’s careful assessment we have assorted pressure groups determined to resist any change away from the present ‘believe the victim’ mentality and even hitch a ride on the bandwagon, though their link with the substantive issue of sexual abuse of children is tenuous. http://rapecrisis.org.uk/news/keir-starmer-announces-changes-to-criminal-justice-handling-

A month ago Paul Gambaccini and Sir Cliff Richard went to the House of Lords to lobby for a change in the law so that those who are accused of sexual abuse are guaranteed anonymity until and unless they are charged.  Lord Paddick, who was previously the Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, backs this change.

Two days later the writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown wrote an article arguing against this change.  She quoted the lawyer Richard Scorer as saying ‘We have seen countless times how perpetrators isolate their victims and make them feel no one will believe them’.  But this is just an anecdote, an assertion which he feels no need to substantiate with quantitative evidence.  It’s  ‘Believe me I’m a lawyer!’

Alibhai-Brown describes him as a ‘specialist in this area’.  But if you probe just a little deeper you find that Scorer works at Pannones, part of Slater & Gordon, and co-authored the book ‘Child Abuse Compensation Claims’.  In other words his specialism is, broadly defined, in personal injury claims, which isn’t quite the same as being a specialist in preparing criminal proceedings against people accused of child abuse.

What Scorer does not mention is whether anonymity for people accused, but not charged, would have any impact upon his business as it would prevent lawyers signing up the people who made the allegation, as a client in a civil compensation case and prevent them ‘trawling’ for further clients who had not yet made a complaint.  Put this way it suggests that the present system is open to abuse by people seeking financial compensation.

Incidentally, if you check out the Slater and Gordon website you’ll find they are still running their April 2014 advert touting for business arising from claims of abuse at Knowl View school even though when these were investigated by the Greater Manchester Police in Operation Jaguar there was insufficient evidence to mount a prosecution. http://www.slatergordon.co.uk/media-centre/blog/2014/04/allegations-of-abuse-against-cyril-smith-victims-seek-answers/

In arguing that naming people accused but not charged ensures that those claiming to have been abused have the confidence to come forward Alibhai-Brown ignores the 2013 guidance from the CPS about how such cases should be handled, which was designed to ensure that the police would take seriously every complaint of abuse.

For Alibhai-Brown, Harvey Proctor, Paul Gambaccini, Cliff Richard and others are just ‘collateral damage’.  As she puts it ‘We should be far more concerned about those who never dare tell than about the small number falsely accused.’  In other words she wants to prioritise the unknown and unknowable number of people who might be inhibited from coming forward, over people who we know will suffer greatly from being falsely accused.  Should people like Alibhai-Brown be allowed to have the last word on the question of naming suspects or is someone else going to speak out?

Is it possible that what we have seen in Operation Midland is what some people call ‘The Law of  Unintended Consequences’?  The 2013 guidelines were intended to reassure those who complained about abuse that their allegations would be taken seriously and properly investigated.  There is no obligation to call complainants ‘victims’ or ‘survivors’.  Did the journalists and pressure groups simply appropriate the terms because it suited their agenda to do so?   Did the police simply follow suit in an effort to appear ‘victim friendly’?  If they did the this lack of judgement has spectacularly backfired with Hogan-Howe’s apology.

Harvey Proctor's reply to Hogan-Howe

ON the 8 November 2016 at 15:31 Mr. K Harvey Proctor issued the statement below to several media outlets including Northern Voices.  The content clearly lays out the difficulties he and other have had to face owing to certain practices adopted by the Metropolitan Police Service in their investigation entitled Operation Midland.  Mr. Proctor, it seems, attaches some blame to the former Home Secretary, Theresa May, who said 'VIP abuse was the tip of the iceberg', and also to the 'MPs [who] used parliamentary privilege to stir the pot including Tom Watson and Zac Goldsmith [and] who refused to apologise'.

'Today, without prejudice, I accepted an unreserved apology from Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, the MPS Commissioner, in respect of Operation Midland. However, I have informed him the detrimental impact of the investigation on the life of my family, friends and myself was irreversible

'This apology does not detract from the adverse effect and hurt of Operation Midland on my life and me personally. I hope the police in such cases in future will always test the credibility of a complainant before someone is thrust into the public limelight.

'I believe that the police should not be making statements such as they believe the complainant is "Credible and True" whilst the investigation is ongoing.

'My efforts in challenging the Metropolitan Police Service from the beginning over 18 months ago have not been for selfish reasons but in the hope that anybody now and in the future can be spared the trauma that I have experienced . I regret that it has taken someone in a high profile position, albeit unwanted, to make an impact, but it is a moral victory for ALL potential defendants from all walks of life. I am proud of the little role I have played.

'I hope the police will learn from this so the glaring mistakes identified from Operation Midland will not be repeated.

'I have always had huge respect for the policing of our country, and admiration for the work police officers do. This is undiminished.

'I hope the Home Office will look at these matters carefully and bring forward proposals to amend the current system where a complainant, even a fantasist and liar, can be given life long anonymity and financially benefit  while the alleged suspect is routinely fingered and named by the police and in my case left destitute.

'The former Home Secretary said VIP abuse was the tip of the iceberg, it has proved to be the tip of an ice cube. She too should consider apologising for her crass remark at a very difficult time in my life.

'There was no Westminster Paedophile ring.

'MPs used parliamentary privilege to stir the pot including Tom Watson and Zac Goldsmith who refused to apologise. I was surprised Mr Speaker failed to act.

'A now defunct news agency Exaro used the police "credible and true" label as cover to defame me and others with impunity.

'In conclusion,

'Lessons must be learnt to the advantage of the innocent and the "genuine" victims of historical child sexual abuse.

'I am grateful to my family, friends and colleagues without whom I would have been incapable of  dealing with this truly kafa-esque experience.'

K Harvey Proctor Date: 8 November 2016 at 15:31

Police Apology to Harvey Proctor

A copy of the letter below was sent to Northern Voices and other news outlets

over a week ago.  The content is self-explanatory and demonstrates the dangers

which may develop in police investigations.

METROPOLITAN POLICE - TOTAL POLICING

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM, MBA, MA (Oxon)

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

4-5 Buckingham Gate

London

SW 1E 6JP

Mr. Harvey Proctor

Via e-mail

8 November 2016

Dear Mr. Proctor,

The Independent Review of the Metropolitan Police Service's handling on non-recent sexual offence investigation alleged against persons of public prominence

Now that we have received the final version of Sir Richard Henriques' report I am writing to you formally to convey my apologies for the failings by the Metropolitan Police Service that Sir Richard has identified in the way in which we handled Operation Midland in which you were a suspect.

Sir Richard has concluded, and I accept, that there were significant failings in the way that the Operation Midland investigation was conducted.  In particular, I accept the following points:

•  The approach adopted in believing the complaint at the outset was wrong;
•  Insufficient attempts were made to test the credibility of the complainant;
•  While it was right that the allegations had to be investigated, the effect of the approach adopted was to unnecessarily prolong the length of the investigation;
•  It was wrong to have searched your property.

For these failings by the MPS I would like to offer you now an unreserved apology.

Yours sincerely

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

Harvey Proctor says police should resign!

FORMER Tory MP Harvey Proctor, who yesterday was formally cleared of child abuse and murder allegations declared: 

'I consider that Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Patricia Gallan, Steve Rodhouse and Kenny McDonald should tender their resignations from the Metropolitan Police Service forthwith.'

This came as Scotland Yard's £3million Operation Midland finally came to an end.

For over a year Mr Proctor, 69, has strenuously denied historical allegations that he was part of a VIP paedophile ring that murdered three boys.

The former member for Basildon and Billericay was told that police would be taking no further action against him, and called for a public inquiry into Operation Midland, the probe that was sparked by the allegations. 

The decision to clear Mr Proctor is a humiliating blow for the Met. police, who had previously described his accuser’s allegations as ‘credible and true’.

It is also a shock to those MPs who have conducted a witch-hunt against Proctor and others. 

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Proctor said:

'I have been advised that the Metropolitan Police Service have informed my solicitors that they intend to take no further action with regard to my involvement with Operation Midland' .

'I wish to make a short statement.  I will make a longer one on the publication of my book “Credible and True. The Political and Personal Memoir of K. Harvey Proctor” on Tuesday, 29th March 2016. 

'I believe Operation Midland should now be the subject of a truly independent public inquiry.
'I consider that Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Patricia Gallan, Steve Rodhouse and Kenny McDonald should tender their resignations from the Metropolitan Police Service forthwith.'

In another statement Mr. Proctor has had much to say about some Labour MPs:   'Those Labour Members of Parliament who have misused parliamentary privilege and their special position on these matters should apologise. They have behaved disgracefully, especially attacking dead parliamentarians who cannot defend themselves and others and they should make amends. They are welcome to sue me for libel. In particular, Mr Tom Watson, M.P. should state, outside the protection of the House of Commons, the names of ex Ministers and ex M.P.s who he feels are part of the so called alleged Westminster rent boy ring.'

For this he was criticised by the campaigner, Ian Pace, and earlier this week on a left-wing Blog which declared:
'Proctor is maliciously trying to blame Watson.  That may raise a few eyebrows, but it must be remembered that Proctor was not the most sympathetic character to grace the Commons:  his interests included being chairman of the right-wing Monday Club's "Immigration and repatriation committee".  Yes, "repatriation".'
The Blog suggested Proctor may have been bias against Watson and the Labour Party, but this is undermined by what Mr. Proctor has had to say about the Tory Home Secretary, Theresa May:
‘If Theresa May was not so interested as to how she could achieve the future leadership of the Conservative Party and was in authoritative charge of the Home Office and its responsibilities, she would have held the Metropolitan Police Service to account for their daily abuses of trashing human rights.’
Harvey Proctor further suggested the Home Secretary should ‘consider her position’.
Last night, the Home Office refused to comment on what Mr. Proctor had had to say.
From the position of someone who believes in justice and decency, Mr. Proctor's right-wing political views ought to be irrelevant to what has been happening with regard to what looks like a witch-hunt by some MPs and some elements of the media.  It is typical of some on the left to stoop to evoking these kind of things but it suggests a kind of lazy intellectual bankruptcy.
For Northern Voices based in the town of Rochdale where a crude opportunism, and some would say corrupt politics, has prevailed for almost a decade, Harvey  Proctor's stand on this matter has been a breath of fresh air.   

Harvey Proctor: Goddard Inquiry & 'Long Grass'

by Les May

LAST August, Harvey Proctor courageously sacrificed his anonymity in order to expose what he evidently considered an abuse of process in the way that accusations of child abuse and being a party to murder had been investigated.  Yesterday he took the fight literally to Scotland Yard's door by holding a second press conference about the affair just a few metres away at St Ermin’s Hotel, Westminster.  

But the most interesting thing he had to say was not about the accusations or the police investigation, but about the public inquiry into historical child abuse and a separate judge-led probe into how Scotland Yard dealt with claims against public figures.

He said, 'The outcome of these two fake inquiries will be a whitewash and a cover-up and a deliberate exercise in kicking the issue into the long grass until the architects of the scandal have moved on to collect their pensions.'
The 'overarching' Goddard inquiry will probably be taking evidence for the next five years according to the most optimistic predictions and up to ten years if we believe the most pessimistic.   It has been suggested that to digest the material collected and to write the final report will take a further three years.  
If these predictions are reasonably accurate the results of an inquiry announced in 2014 will become available in 2023 or even as late as 2028.  That is very 'long grass' indeed.
The Garnham inquiry was established by Rochdale council in 2014 to look at the allegations against Cyril Smith relating to Cambridge House which date from the 1960s, and were exclusively revealed in the Rochdale Alternative Paper in 1979 (RAP), and the allegations of abuse at Knowl View special school which were first publicly aired in 1995.  Both were 'rediscovered' by Simon Danczuk sometime after 2012 and presented in a garbled form in his book 'Smile for the Camera'.  The report of the inquiry was due to be available by the end of July 2014.
But recently the Garnham inquiry was abandoned and seemingly subsumed into the Goodard inquiry which on the most optimistic assumptions will nor report until 2023.  Which will be some sixty years after Cyril Smith's activities at Cambridge House and by which time the men on the receiving end of his attentions will be approaching eighty.
It won't be quite so long in the case of Knowl View; just about thirty five years.  But there is a 'sting in the tail' in the story of Knowl View.  When this story was aired in 1995 there were claims of a 'cover up' by Rochdale council.  Such a 'cover up' could only have taken place between 1991 when Aids worker Phil Shepherd reported on the high levels of sexual activity between the boys, and 1994 when the school closed.  The two council leaders during this time were Richard Farnell and Paul Rowan.
'Smile for the Camera' has ten pages devoted to Knowl View.  And Cyril Smith's name is very prominent on seven of them.  There is certainly little emphasis on the claims of a 'cover up'.  Are we being carefully steered away from the very idea of a 'cover up'?
As I am more inclined to think in terms of 'cock up' not 'cover up' such thoughts had never occurred to me until idly flicking through the acknowledgements in Danczuk's book a couple of days ago I came across the name of the same Richard Farnell who was being thanked for allowing himself to be interviewed.  Presumably the question of a 'cover up' about the goings on at Knowl View was never raised.

Danczuk, 'Fairy Stories' & Operation Midland!

Les May

IN September of last year the sociologist, Professor Frank Furedi, predicted that Operation Midland would soon collapse because it had become so discredited. It turns out that his prediction of its early demise was a bit premature, but on Monday it finally did.

Whilst some of the people subject to investigation are dead or have left others to comment on their behalf Harvey Proctor, who was the last person to be told he was no longer being investigated, was more forthright saying:
'I consider that Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Patricia Gallan, Steve Rodhouse and Kenny McDonald should tender their resignations from the Metropolitan police service forthwith.'

He also called for his accuser, 'Nick', and the news website Exaro, which published or sold stories based on many of his claims, to be prosecuted, and said that MPs including Tom Watson, Zac Goldsmith and John Mann, who made public comments that pre-empted the end of the inquiry, should apologise on the floor of the House of Commons.

It is not difficult to understand Proctor's sense of outrage.  At a news conference last August, Proctor was highly critical of the police over the way they had conducted their investigation, nor why he would call for Exaro to be prosecuted.

Commenting on Proctor's news conference 'Barrister Blogger' Matthew Scott wrote

'Either Exaro actually has stumbled across the story of the century, or it has been muckraking on a grand scale, exploiting a possibly vulnerable “witness” and exposing innocent people and their families to a grotesque and seemingly endless trial by internet. Mr Proctor may or may not be right that Leon Brittan was “driven to his death” by the campaign against him, but anyone relentlessly, anonymously and falsely accused of rape, paedophilia and child sex murder might well feel that death was a relatively easy option.'

When Proctor's home, a grace and favour house at Belvoir Castle, was raided in March 2015 the news was leaked to Exaro.  As a result of this raid Proctor lost both his home and his job.  That this 'tip off' came from the police themselves is suggested by both the wording used and the fact that in the quote below which appeared on 14 September 2015 Exaro had other information that could only have come from a police source.
'The following March, Exaro revealed that Operation Midland was raiding Proctor’s house, sparking much media coverage. We still held back from reporting that police were investigating allegations of murder by Proctor, who revealed that himself later.'

If there was some form of collusion between the police and Exaro this is can only fuel Proctor's sense of outrage at how he was treated because he is surely right that Exaro profited from publishing Nick's stories and the fallout from them.
One MP whose name was not mentioned by Proctor is Simon Danczuk.  Named (and shamed) or not, Danczuk was up to his neck in promoting the idea of a 'high level' conspiracy protecting paedophiles.  He told Exaro on 3 June 2014:
'As we have seen from the story that we told about Cyril Smith, there was a network at the highest level that was out to protect him at every turn.' 
And on 27 November 2014 Exaro carried, 'I can assure everybody that Zac Goldsmith,Tom Watson and Simon Danczuk are very concerned to get to the real truth behind such a disturbing scandal that has remained hidden for decades.'

Now Simon is right in calling what he and Matthew Baker wrote about Cyril Smith 'a story'; as in 'fairy story' that is.  These authors produce not a shred of evidence that there was any kind of network protecting Smith.  This story is just a figment of their over active imagination designed to 'spice up' an otherwise pretty thin story about Smith spanking young men at Cambridge House in the 1960s.  A story which had been published in Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) in 1979.  Ask Danczuk to tell you how many men who claimed to have been abused by Smith he interviewed before writing the book and he refuses to tell you.

What is remarkable is that anyone is still prepared to take him seriously.  Whilst running a headline of 'Humiliation of the Yard. After 16-month probe into claims of VIP abuse, police concede there's not a scrap of evidence', and a double page spread inside the paper Tuesday's Daily Mail quoted Danczuk as saying that 'a Westminster network should not be dismissed'.

As Barrister Blogger said in a recent column:
'Nick will continue to lead his life in obscurity, feted as a hero by some.  His therapists will continue to “treat” other people with mental health problems. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe will continue to preside over the Metropolitan Police and, with Hogan-Howe’s apparent insouciance Kenny McDonald will continue as a senior police officer happily saying one thing while thinking something completely different. Mark Watts, the Editor of Exaro News will eventually come up with some slippery justification for his organisation’s discreditable behaviour over the past two years. The internet conspiracists will work themselves into another lather of hatred.'

And meanwhile Simon Danczuk will continue to promote himself as an expert on child abuse.



http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/operation-midland-treating-fiction-as-fact/17473
https://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/full-statement-of-harvey-proctor/
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5274/mps-call-on-theresa-may-to-set-up-inquiry-into-child-sex-abuse
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5275/police-keep-failing-to-follow-evidence-in-abuse-cases-say-mps
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5322/dolphin-square-mps-threw-parties-for-sexual-abuse-of-childr
http://barristerblogger.com/2015/08/28/harvey-proctor-exaro-and-the-pursuit-of-justice/
https://davidhencke.wordpress.com/tag/simon-danczuk-mp/
http://barristerblogger.com/2016/03/21/operation-midland-miserable-end-miserable-affair/#more-1762

The Overactive Imagination of Simon Danczuk

by Les May

IF you want to know what 'The Establishment' really is and how it works, look no further than what has happened since allegations of sexual abuse of a twelve year old boy were made against the late Sir Edward Heath at the beginning of August.

On 3 August the Daily Mirror was running the story with the headline 'Sir Edward Heath child abuse claims: Alleged victim was raped by ex PM when he was just 12', complete with the obligatory photographs of Heath with Cyril Smith and Heath with Jimmy Savile.
Simon Danczuk was quoted as saying:
'These are very serious allegations and they need to be investigated as a matter of urgency.'

In another Mirror article, he is quoted as saying:
'There have been rumours and allegations out there for some time, and I don’t say that lightly.'
Now this is a bit of a porky because in his book he is happy to make statements about child abuse by Cyril Smith being part of a paedophile ring in the absence of evidence of any kind.  Two days after the book was published in April 2014, he told the Today program:
'Had he been prosecuted, then the house of cards would have fallen, in terms of that paedophile network, and it could have brought the government down.'
Again no evidence is produced.

In July of last year, he said with reference to Geoffrey Dickens:
'I have no doubt whatsoever that Dickens was on the right trail and he caused a lot of problems for the establishment. In the early 1980s he famously gave a dossier to the then Conservative Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, giving names of paedophiles operating at the top of the British establishment. Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith were said to be named in the 40-page dossier.'
As Danczuk never saw the so called 'dossier' he cannot know what it contained or how many pages it had, and all this is just another figment of his over active imagination, with a bit of hearsay thrown in. (Incidentally on 5 July 2014 the Mirror said it was 50 pages!)

By 5th, August, The Telegraph was running a story which cast doubt on some aspects of the story and The Guardian's Simon Jenkins was writing:
'The case against Edward Heath looks flimsy, but already the gutter is being dredged for lurid, unsubstantiated claims'.  He also wrote that the past weeks assault on Heath's reputation 'has been driven by political antipathy to Heath, by latent homophobia and by a general suspicion of people who seem to lead abnormal lives.'

In late August, Harvey Proctor 'outed' himself as a suspect and made a detailed statement about the nature of the accusations which had been made against him. This may have had some influence in shifting perceptions as what had seemed 'lurid' allegations began to look like 'ludicrous' allegations.

Five weeks after the initial claims about Heath the Daily Mail, which had been eager to serialise Danczuk's book about Cyril Smith, was writing; 'Nick: Victim or fantasist?  Rape.  Torture.  Murders'.  These were the extraordinary claims made by one man against leading Establishment figures.  Police called his story 'credible and true' but there's not a shred of evidence to back his allegations'

Then last Tuesday, a BBC Panorama programme cast serious doubt on the claims of a paedophile ring using the facilities of the Elm Street guest house, which seems to have been operated as a homosexual brothel, and on the accusations against the late Sir Leon Brittan and others.

In recent days we have had demands for an apology from Tom Watson with regard to statements he made about Brittan.  As these demands have been prominently reported in the Daily Mail there is no doubt a bit of added spice in being able to attack the Deputy Leader of the Labour party.

So in just nine weeks our print and broadcast media have at last woken up to the fact that it might be a good idea to adopt a slightly more sceptical approach to reporting allegations of child abuse.  Or
at least they have when the accusations are levelled at Establishment figures.

When Danczuk was interviewed by LBC on 10 October the accusations against Establishment figures were described as 'ludicrous', but the claims in his book about Smith being a paedophile were taken for granted as being true by the interviewers, though I doubt that either of them have actually gone to the trouble of reading it. Remember also that on 3rd, August Danczuk was quoted as saying:
'These are very serious allegations and they need to be investigated as a matter of urgency'.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist so I don't think this reflects an attempt at an Establishment 'cover up' to protect people in high places because I too think they are 'ludicrous'.  But if we are going to be asked to re-evaluate the allegations against Heath, Brittan and sundry others of the 'great and the good', should we not also re-evaluate the allegations of paedophilia against Cyril Smith and especially the claims in the Danczuk book?

Whilst no one can possibly defend what Tom Watson repeated about Leon Brittan after his death nor his attempt to pressure the Director of Public Prosecution, at least he has had the good grace to apologise for what he did say and to make an effort to explain some of his actions saying, 'I had been told of multiple allegations about Leon Brittan and I had met some of the people making those allegations at their request. I did not and could not know if they were true but I did believe their claims should be fully investigated'.

In contrast to Danczuk, Watson recognises in that last sentence that just because he was told something, he should not just assume it was true. Yet Watson is being vilified by Richard Littlejohn who calls him the 'Nonce Finder General' in the Daily Mail, whilst Danczuk, who never misses the opportunity to repeat his claims about Cyril Smith as if they had been proven to be true, seems to be immune from criticism. Perhaps the reason is that the Daily Mail paid him to serialise the book. Or is it that they consider him their 'tame' Labour MP always ready to criticise his party?

As a BBC report from November 2012 makes clear Danczuk's original intervention was with regard to 'indecent assault' by Smith who had carried out fake medical examinations and spankings of young men (not 'young boys' as Danczuk claimed) at Cambridge House hostel in the 1960s.

Although Danczuk has been happy to be seen as the person who unearthed this sordid story, in fact it was revealed in the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) in May 1979 by the co-editors David Bartlett and John Walker.  Whilst these two could support their story with affidavits from six of the men indecently assaulted by Smith, Danczuk can offer nothing but assertions, and second and third hand gossip about Smith's activities after the closure of Cambridge House in the 1960s.  At least one of his claims involving a car boot load of child pornography, and Northamptonshire police looking the other way has been shown to be without foundation.

Is it not strange that the BBC can so quickly research and produce a Panorama programme casting doubt on the truth of some of the claims made against some very prominent figures, yet the organisation has been happy to offer Danczuk an option on his book about Cyril Smith being turned into a television programme?

Is it not doubly strange that even though we now know that Danczuk's former aide Matthew Baker has been accused of attempting to smear a former Labour Leader of Rochdale council with having knowledge in the 1990s of abuse in a Rochdale School, no-one has thought to question the veracity of some of the claims about abuse by Cyril Smith made in the book he co-authored with Danczuk?

What Simon Jenkins had to say about Heath can equally well be applied to Smith. Danczuk has repeatedly used Smith's actions at Cambridge House and his claims based on gossip and hearsay
against Rochdale LibDems and Nick Clegg, Smith was a homosexual, and his size and devotion to his mother no doubt made his life seem 'abnormal' to some people.


http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/88102/letter-from-parliament-simon-danczuk-mp
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sir-edward-heath-child-abuse-6188388
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sir-edward-heath-child-abuse-6188663

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11786520/Sir-Edward-Heath-Sex-trial-was-not-dropped-to-cover-up-ex-PM-allegations-says-lawyer.html
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/05/convict-dead-defenceless-case-edward-heath
https://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/full-statement-of-harvey-proctor/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3240661/Nick-Victim-fantasist-Rape-Torture-Murders-extraordinary-claims-one-man-against-leading-Establishment-figures-Police-called-story-credible-true-s-not-shred-evidence-allegations.html
http://www.lbc.co.uk/danczuk-we-ruled-out-action-on-abuse-allegations--117706
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34484611
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/09/i-had-a-duty-to-pass-leon-brittain-allegations-to-authorities-says-tom-watson_n_8268722.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3265531/Lord-Brittan-treated-outrageously-police-gossiped-journalists-unfounded-rape-claims-against-brother-says.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3265772/DAILY-MAIL-COMMENT-not-say-sorry-Mr-Watson.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3265730/Why-Nonce-Finder-General-Tom-Watson-won-t-say-sorry-unfit-high-political-office-bearded-Trot-Corbyn-RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-20303606
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-33716982
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-34400387
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27047442

Harvey Proctor & Extra Judicial Tactics

NORTHERN Voices, ever since 2012, has been in the forefront of exposing issues surrounding Cyril Smith and child sex exploitation.  However, we are concerned about the recent practices of some politicians and certain media outlets with regard to their use of parliamentary privilege and the use of trial by media to potentially influence the process and administration of justice.

 

On Wednesday in the Daily Telegraph, Mathew Scott wrote:

'In a year's time Harvey Proctor's news conference will be seen either as a chilling display of hypocrisy or as the moment a brave man finally took on the combined might of a misguided Metropolitan Police and a small, nasty and highly influential section of the press and internet.'

Harvey Procter, is a former Conservative MP who was very publicly implicated in 1987, in what was then regarded as a 'gay sex' scandal, when he stood down from his parliamentary seat.   He left the House of Commons – after pleading guilty and being fined for gross indecency charges.  At present the campaign against certain so-called 'VIP paedophiles' , including Sir Edward Heath, Leon Brittain, and others, has been promoted by the online news organisation Exaro News.  Exaro's editor in chief is Mark Watts, a highly experienced journalist who, before setting up Exaro, had contributed stories to the Daily Telegraph.

Mathew Scott writes:
'In an internet trial there are no rules of evidence, no right to insist on answers to questions or even to know the identity of the accuser.  “Nick” is anonymous and as a result almost beyond criticism.  Why did he contact Exaro in the first place?  Did he seek them out, or did they go out and find him?  If the latter, why and how? Has he been paid for his story?  Exaro has not revealed.  Why did he wait until 2014 before contacting the police?  Why, for example, did he not do so in 1987 when Mr Proctor was very publicly implicated in what was then regarded as a “gay sex” scandal?  Why, as Mr Proctor asked, was a representative from Exaro permitted to be present when he was interviewed by the police?   Exaro, again, has not revealed.'

 
This short-circuiting of the legal process seems to be becoming all too common, in a letter in tomorrow's Rochdale Observer, a critic of the Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk, Les May questions the politician's involvement with officers from the Leicester Police force who Mr. Danczuk in a speech to the House of Commons reported to be 'furious' at a decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) not to prosecute Lord Janner.  Mr. May who resides in the Rochdale area writes:
'On July 25, 2015, Mr Danczuk received a payment of £10,000 from the owners of The Sun for an article he had contributed to... [and] he declined to say which article the cash related to.'


Les May further points out that 'Mr Danczuk is MP for Rochdale, not a constituency that is within the Leicester Police area.' 
And he asks:
'Was the intention to use an extra judicial method of bring pressure on the DPP ...?'


In the case of Harvey Proctor last December the police officer leading the investigation, detective superintendent Kenny McDonald even announced on the BBC that he believed that the victim 'Nicks' allegations to be 'credible and true'. 


The journalist, Mathew Scott in the Telegraph, rightly questions this statement from a police officer:
'It was a disgraceful statement. McDonald's job is to investigate, not to judge and most certainly not to broadcast his opinion.  Expressing any opinion about the truthfulness of a witness would – as he knows perfectly well – be inadmissible and improper even in the controlled environment of a trial.  To announce on national television that you believe a suspect is guilty of multiple rape and murder, before a single body has been found, and months before speaking to Mr Proctor, suggests a mind-boggling level of prejudice and foolishness.'


While no laws may have been broken in either of these cases, and in the case of Mr Proctor there has been no technical breach because he has not been charged, but the spirit of fairness and justice is being damaged.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11823190/Harvey-Proctor-accuses-police-of-homosexual-witch-hunt-over-paedophile-ring-murder-claims.html