The suspected fantasist at the centre of Scotland Yard’s disastrous VIP child sex abuse inquiry is to stand trial accused of being a paedophile himself.
The man, known only as Nick, has been charged with a string of child sex offences.
Details of the astonishing development can be disclosed after a legal challenge, backed by the Daily Mail, succeeded in overturning a reporting ban on the case.
Nick is also waiting to find out whether he will be charged with criminal offences over his alleged lies about VIP child sex abuse and murder.
Prosecutors are considering charging him with perverting the course of justice and fraud.
The man at the centre of Scotland Yard’s shambolic inquiry into an alleged VIP paedophile ring is to go on trial accused of being a paedophile himself, it can now be revealed
His baseless claims about sex abuse and serial murder involving an Establishment paedophile ring led to the Met’s shambolic Operation Midland.
The £3million inquiry led to raids on the homes of D-Day veteran Lord Bramall, the late former home secretary Leon Brittan and ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor.
Nick also made wild, unsubstantiated allegations of child sex abuse against former Prime Minister Edward Heath, the late Labour grandee Lord Greville Janner and a number of distinguished ex security chiefs.
The decision to charge him with child sex offences will be hugely embarrassing to senior officers in the Metropolitan Police, who once described him as a ‘credible and true’ witness.
Met chiefs are likely to come under renewed scrutiny over their handling of the investigation, branded a ‘witch-hunt’ and a ‘disgrace’ by Mr Proctor.
There will also be unease at BBC News, which gave Nick a platform to make his far-fetched claims on primetime bulletins, and also among former journalists at a now defunct ‘investigations’ website called Exaro which peddled ‘fake news’ stories about VIP paedophiles.
The man’s claims led to D-Day veteran Lord Bramall (left) and ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor (right) having their homes raided
Nick allegedly committed a number of the child sex offences during Operation Midland – which closed in 2016 without any arrests being made – though the allegations do not relate to physical abuse.
He was charged several months ago though a court order was put in place to prohibit reporting of the case.
If convicted of the offences, which cannot be revealed in detail for legal reasons, he faces being locked away for several years.
The latest twist in the ‘Nick’ case will be of great concern to Lord Bramall and Lord Brittan’s widow Diana, who have each received around £100,000 from Scotland Yard in out-of-court settlements over Operation Midland.
Former home secretary Leon Brittan was another of the major figures investigated in the ‘witch hunt’ police probe
In March last year, the Mail revealed that Nick faced financial ruin after Mr Proctor launched a six-figure compensation claim against him over his alleged lies. The ex-politician’s claim is part of a £1million-plus action against Nick and the police, who took his far-fetched accusations seriously.
In November 2016, a report by a retired High Court judge savaged the Met for giving credence to Nick’s allegations.
The alleged fantasist had claimed that a string of politicians and military figures murdered three children and abused others at depraved sex parties.
Sir Richard Henriques identified no fewer than 43 separate blunders and said it was time for police to stop automatically believing the accounts of alleged victims.
Then Met boss Bernard Hogan-Howe issued a grovelling apology for the bungled inquiry.
In a barely disguised attack on investigative website Exaro, Sir Richard’s report highlighted how their journalists fatally undermined the police inquiry.
He said they drove Nick around London looking for ‘scenes of abuse’ and showed him photos of possible suspects.
As well as investigating Nick for perverting the course of justice, police have also examined allegations that Nick received £50,000 after applying to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority for a payout for allegedly suffering child sex abuse.
He could be prosecuted for fraud if the application was shown to have been made under false pretences.
‘Nick’s’ claims led to a high-profile investigation into an alleged paedophile ring in Whitehall
Asked to comment on the inquiry into perverting the course of justice and fraud, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: ‘The CPS received a file of evidence from Northumbria Police in September 2017. This was a large file and enquiries have been ongoing since that time, with further evidence being received.
‘We anticipate that additional material will continue to be received and this will need to be considered prior to any charging decision being made.
‘In considering cases that are referred by the police, CPS prosecutors are mindful of the need to provide decisions in as timely a manner as possible.
‘In complex cases, such as this, where further investigation and evidence are required, this is a necessarily time-consuming process so that all parties can be satisfied that charging decisions have been based on all available material.’
Operation Midland began to unravel after the Daily Mail revealed in September 2015 that a number of detectives had ‘grave doubts’ about Nick’s story and the inquiry. A number of subsequent articles by this newspaper made further revelations about the shambolic investigation.
Last night, former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, falsely accused of being a serial child sex killer by Nick, hit out at the secrecy surrounding the case.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘Nick was charged with these offences several months ago, yet I had no idea about this until in the last 24 hours.
‘I am very, very angry that the Metropolitan Police, which I am suing for compensation, did not inform me about this.
‘I am shocked that Nick is an alleged paedophile. But I am also disgusted that the authorities have covered this up for several months. It is utterly, utterly outrageous.’
Nick’s real identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
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