Detectives claimed they had no reason to doubt VIP child abuse and murder claims made by the fantasist ‘Nick’, whose real name is Carl Beech (pictured)
A file showing police should never have raided the home of Britain’s greatest living soldier can be revealed today.
Detectives claimed in a secret search warrant application that they had no reason to doubt VIP child abuse and murder claims made by the fantasist ‘Nick’.
Signed by a detective sergeant, the document was presented to a judge who approved the raid in March 2015 on the home of Lord Bramall, a D-Day veteran and former head of the Armed Forces.
But an investigation by this newspaper has established that police were aware of at least eight factors that raised serious questions about the outlandish claims made by Nick, whose real name is Carl Beech.
A key factor was that despite extensive efforts police found no evidence to back up Beech’s claim to have suffered physical abuse and injury and to have been absent from school.
Yet officers told district judge Howard Riddle that the 51-year-old former nurse was a ‘consistent’ and ‘credible’ witness.
In the document, which has been seen by the Daily Mail, Judge Riddle wrote that he was assured the implications for the application for the proposed raid had been ‘considered at DAC level’.
This was a reference to Steve Rodhouse, a deputy assistant commissioner with Metropolitan Police and ‘gold commander’ of the bungled £2.5million investigation.
The revelations about the warrants for raids on the homes of Lord Bramall, former home secretary Lord Brittan and ex Tory MP Harvey Proctor, will pile pressure on Home Secretary Priti Patel to order a fresh inquiry into the fiasco.
Last week she demanded a full explanation of the police watchdog’s decision to clear three Operation Midland officers.
Two more senior officers – including Mr Rodhouse – were controversially exonerated two years ago.
A judge approved the raid in March 2015 on the home of Lord Bramall, a D-Day veteran and former head of the Armed Forces
Victims of Beech’s lies, and their families, are furious that no police officer has been held to account over the Met’s disastrous investigation.
Today the Daily Mail can also reveal that a rookie worker at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who was in her late 20s, was the ‘lead investigator’ during the two-year probe that cleared the three officers of misconduct last month.
The latest developments come a week after a former High Court judge said that police broke the law with Operation Midland.
In an astonishing intervention, Sir Richard Henriques told the Daily Mail that officers used false evidence to obtain the search warrants and should now face a criminal investigation.
He said that detectives did not have the right to search the properties because their description of Beech as a consistent witness was false, effectively fooling a judge into granting the warrants.
He also alleged that the ‘course of justice was perverted with shocking consequences’, saying he found it astonishing that no officer has been brought to book.
In 2016 Sir Richard wrote a scathing report for Scotland Yard about Operation Midland. It identified 43 blunders, was heavily redacted and has never been fully made public.
In the wake of the Mail’s revelations last week, a string of distinguished law enforcement figures – including former Met chief Lord Stevens, and former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald, have called for an unredacted version of the dossier to be released.
Sir Richard’s broadside at the Met and police watchdogs came days after vicar’s son Beech was jailed for 18 years for telling a string of lies about alleged VIP child sex abuse and serial murder.
At his ten-week trial, jurors heard the fantasist told officers that he was used as a human dartboard by the former heads of MI5 and MI6, that his dog was kidnapped by a spy chief, and that the paedophile ring shot dead his horse.
The court also heard that Beech is now a convicted paedophile after child porn offences came to light when an independent police force, at Sir Richard’s behest, started investigating him on suspicion of making false claims about a deadly Establishment paedophile ring.
In the wake of his convictions, Scotland Yard chiefs faced intense criticism over staggering incompetence in 16-month investigation launched on the word of a pathological liar.
But shortly after Beech was found guilty, the Independent Office for Police Conduct announced the three officers accused of misconduct over search warrant applications had been cleared.
The watchdog said the officers, led by senior investigating officer detective chief inspector Diane Tudway, acted ‘with due diligence and in good faith at the time’.
But Sir Richard told this newspaper the finding was ‘in conflict’ with his review of Operation Midland in 2016.
Following Beech’s convictions, Met Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House said he believed all five officers probed by police watchdogs over Operation Midland ‘worked in good faith’.
They cooperated fully with both the Henriques Review and the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigations, he added.
Warrant for disgrace
Police were given permission to raid the home of Britain’s greatest living soldier, Field Marshal Lord Bramall
The secret court document seen by the Daily Mail – which blows open the ‘Nick’ search warrants scandal – was part of a two-stage process which gave police permission to raid the home of Britain’s greatest living soldier, Field Marshal Lord Bramall.
The first involved a detective completing a confidential form and the second involved three murder squad officers going before court to get official permission to storm his house.
The document sets out the astonishing nature of the claims and reveals that police even sought to rely on an independent consultant to back up their star witness’s allegations.
It also shows that when asked if there was anything that might undermine their request for a search warrant, the Met simply answered N/A – not applicable. In fact, police were aware of several factors that raised questions about the claims made by Nick, real name Carl Beech.
Before detectives could raid the home of the former head of the Armed Forces, now 95, in March 2015, an officer had to complete a standard ‘Application for Search Warrant’ form (Criminal Procedure Rules, rule 6.30: section 8, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984). The document includes nine sections which need to be filled out by police, and a final one – to be signed by the presiding judge – granting them authority to execute the warrant.
Police had to answer a series of questions about the offence(s) under investigation, background details of the case and why officers believed crimes had been committed, the material being sought by police and the premises officers were seeking to search.
Critically the officer signing the warrant – in this case Detective Sergeant Eric Sword – was asked under section eight (‘duty of disclosure’) whether there is ‘anything of which you are aware that might reasonably be considered capable of undermining any of the grounds of this application, or which for some other reason might affect the court’s decision?’.
It adds: ‘Include anything that reasonably might call into question the credibility of the information you have received and explain why you have decided that that information still can be relied upon.’
Persuaded: Officers told district judge Howard Riddle (pictured) that the 51-year-old former nurse was a ‘consistent’ and ‘credible’ witness
This is a crucial section because judges are warned that they must exercise their power ‘with great care and caution’ and must not allow police to engage in ‘a fishing expedition’.
In this box, the Met said ‘N/A’ and Mr Sword, now retired from the force, signed a declaration in section nine saying that ‘to the best of my knowledge and belief’ … ‘the content of this application is true’.
After filling in the form on February 27, 2015, detectives went before Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London on March 2, 2015 to answer questions about the search warrant application.
District judge Howard Riddle ruled that the search of Lord Bramall’s home could go ahead after hearing that the ‘victim’ (Carl Beech) was ‘consistent’ and ‘credible’ and that a Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner had ‘considered’ the application. Two days later on March 4, 2015, police raided Lord Bramall’s home in Surrey as raids took place at homes of the recently deceased Lord Brittan, and former MP Harvey Proctor.
At the top of the search warrant application the Met says of Beech: ‘His account has remained consistent and he is felt to be a credible witness who is telling the truth.’
Approving the request to raid Lord Bramall’s home, Judge Riddle said: ‘I am satisfied that the police are fully aware of the sensitivities and the need for a proportionate approach. This has been considered at DAC level.’
Operation Midland: The Met’s chain of command
Commissioner: Sir Bernard (now Lord) Hogan-Howe – Former met chief, the buck stopped with him
Left: Assistant commissioner Patricia Gallan – former oversight of Midland – says she never approved raids. Right: Deputy assistant commissioner Steve Rodhouse – Gold Commander who is charge of all key decisions
Left: Detective superintendent Kenny McDonald – Called ‘Nick’ credible and true. He supervised inquiry team. Right: Detective chief inspector Diane Tudway – Senior investigating officer who was in daily charge of Midland
Left: Detective inspector Alison Hepworth – Reviewed and authorised search warrant application. Right: Detective sergeant Eric Sword – Signed search warrant application for the court
So who WAS to blame for breaking law?
The emergence of the search warrant application for the raid on the home of former Armed Forces chief Lord Bramall puts one of the country’s most senior police officers at the centre of the Operation Midland scandal.
The previously secret document – seen by the Daily Mail – reveals that a district judge approved the police request to storm the property of the D-Day hero after being assured its implications had been ‘considered at DAC level’ – deputy assistant commissioner.
At the time, Steve Rodhouse held that rank with the Metropolitan Police and was gold commander of Operation Midland.
He had a crucial role in running the 16-month investigation, including decisions over raids and interviews with suspects.
Also coming under renewed scrutiny is Alison Hepworth, the former detective inspector and ‘authorising officer’ who drafted and checked the Bramall search warrant application on February 27, 2015. It went before District Judge Howard Riddle in London on March 2.
Armed Forces chief Lord Bramall (pictured) received £100,000 in damages from the Met
Miss Hepworth was at the behind-closed-doors hearing at Westminster magistrates’ court with the senior investigating officer on Operation Midland, Detective Chief Inspector Diane Tudway, and fellow murder squad officer Detective Sergeant Eric Sword – who signed the search warrant application.
Last week a former judge said police broke the law in the bungled probe into VIP child abuse fantasist Nick. Sir Richard Henriques said officers used false evidence to obtain search warrants.
As the officer in overall charge of the shambolic murder inquiry, it is Mr Rodhouse who faces awkward questions. Over the years, he has repeatedly refused to comment on whether he approved the use of the phrase ‘credible and true’ to describe Carl Beech – then known as ‘Nick’ – whose lies about child abuse and murder triggered Operation Midland in December 2014.
The phrase – originated by Det Supt Kenny McDonald – went uncorrected by police for nine months, until after the Daily Mail exposed Beech as a suspected serial liar in September 2015.
It was not until January 2016 that Mr Rodhouse informed Lord Bramall’s lawyer that there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to charge the former head of the Army with paedophile offences.
But Mr Rodhouse’s letter announcing the end of the investigation into Lord Bramall sought to absolve Scotland Yard and blamed the media for his ten-month ordeal which included the March 2015 breakfast raid. He also left open the prospect of a further inquiry, should new information emerge.
The legalistic tone of the letter infuriated Lord Bramall’s family and friends, who said that the Met should have been generous enough to say that it had ‘not found a shred of evidence’.
They called for a ‘proper’ apology from the Met after the uncorroborated allegations made by Beech came to nothing.
The force later paid Lord Bramall £100,000 in damages.
When Operation Midland formally closed in March 2016, with no arrests or charges, Mr Rodhouse insisted the investigation had been ‘handled well’.
He also refused to apologise to former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, one of those falsely accused of serial child abuse and murder.
At a press conference, he stopped short of saying he was confident there never was a VIP paedophile ring and instead stated the evidence had not reached the threshold for charges.
Lady Brittan received £100,000 damages from the Met over the bungled Operation Midland searches of her two homes in March 2015
He added: ‘Our role here has been to investigate some serious allegations of crime. We’ve conducted a very detailed inquiry and our role really has been to assess whether or not there’s enough evidence to ask the CPS to level charges.
‘My conclusion today is we haven’t reached that threshold. We’ve had a long investigation, a detailed investigation into some serious allegations of crime. It’s absolutely right that we fully investigated it.’
Following the scathing report into Operation Midland by High Court judge Sir Richard in November 2016, Mr Rodhouse was referred to the police watchdog for potential breaches of ‘duties and responsibilities’ in the investigation.
Along with his senior colleague Mr McDonald he was cleared in March 2017. The watchdog said there was no evidence to indicate ‘bad faith, malice or dishonesty’ by the officers and Operation Midland was ‘extensive and carried out diligently’.
Mr Rodhouse has been promoted to a £175,000-a-year post at the National Crime Agency, Britain’s version of the FBI, where he is director general (operations) under Lynne Owens, his old boss at the Met and Surrey Police.
Lady Brittan received £100,000 damages from the Met over the bungled Operation Midland searches of her two homes in March 2015 – just six weeks after her husband Leon’s death.
Mr Rodhouse had previously been criticised over his handling of a separate, equally disastrous, Scotland Yard rape inquiry into Lord Brittan.