Corax
Luke 5:16
Yeah, starting a new account then spamming everyone via pm, that'll endear you.
Byeeee...
How much evidence is there of long term high level UK paedophile ring?
- Thread starter free spirit
- Start date
Byeeee...
elbows
Well-Known Member
I've been trying to catch up with various inquiry-related matters, I am months out of date.
One document alone, the only thing I've read so far, tells me that the terms of the Janner-related bit were changed at some point, to be looking at institutional failings in regard to complaints about Janner. And Janners son and daughters tried to convince the inquiry to deprive 30 of the 33 individuals who have made allegations that they were sexually abused by Janner of core participant status. Jay did not go along with this and all 33 remain core participants.
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-docume...tion - Review of core participant status .pdf
One document alone, the only thing I've read so far, tells me that the terms of the Janner-related bit were changed at some point, to be looking at institutional failings in regard to complaints about Janner. And Janners son and daughters tried to convince the inquiry to deprive 30 of the 33 individuals who have made allegations that they were sexually abused by Janner of core participant status. Jay did not go along with this and all 33 remain core participants.
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-docume...tion - Review of core participant status .pdf
hash tag
Books, not bombs
I know people who were personally effected by this Man abused in 'paedo's paradise' fought back and got justice for 100s of kids
Lurdan
old wave
"Nick" has now also been charged with twelve counts of perverting the course of justice relating to his VIP abuse claims and some of the evidence he produced to support them, and one count of fraud relating to a Criminal Injuries Compensation claim. Details here :
Man who said he was victim of VIP child sexual abuse ring charged - The Guardian
and in the CPS' statement about it
Man charged with perverting the course of justice - The Crown Prosecution Service
which points out
likesfish
You can't park here sir
nick accused the head of the army of being at an orgy on remembrance Sunday a Day he's likely to be a tad busy 
.
VIP padeos have got away with it not sure theres a vast conspiracy
pizzagate had some nutter fire rounds into a ceiling in an attempt to save children from the cellar said pizza shop didnt have a cellar
.VIP padeos have got away with it not sure theres a vast conspiracy
pizzagate had some nutter fire rounds into a ceiling in an attempt to save children from the cellar said pizza shop didnt have a cellar
teqniq
DisMembered
You might perhaps wonder what tales he might have told.
Lawyer accused of beating boys at Christian camps dies
Lawyer accused of beating boys at Christian camps dies
Done it again! Look after your own, paedophile, freemason c**nts!
Police chief's Hillsborough charges dropped
And this, f**cking hard men in uniform.
Video shows police officer hit girl, 14
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
What's this got to do with child sexual abuse?
All part of the same system, but I suspect you really knew that.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Dunno why we don't just have one huge thread, then, for general interconnectedness.
Anyway, talking of "same systems", who were you?
Secret service to testify on 'political paedophiles' at child abuse inquiry
31/10/18
31/10/18
paywalled. Does anyone know how to get around it?
Lurdan
old wave
I think if you register with them you get access to a limited number of articles. Can't be arsed myself but it looks like it's based on a story in the Times earlier in the day
Secret service to testify on ‘political paedophiles’
Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
October 31 2018, 12:00pm
Britain’s spy agencies will be called to give evidence about their knowledge of suspected paedophiles in the Westminster establishment, a public inquiry heard yesterday.
MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are co-operating with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and have already provided files and documents relevant to its investigation into the failure to pursue and prosecute child abusers in Whitehall and parliament.
It will be a highly unusual move for the intelligence services to present evidence at a public inquiry and a preliminary hearing was told that some material might have to be heard in secret for national security reasons.
Andrew O’Connor, QC, the inquiry counsel, said that he hoped the intelligence evidence “will be given in public hearings” but added: “It is, of course, inherent in the work that the agencies do that some information — about, for example, records that they do or do not hold — cannot be given publicly without damaging national security interests.”
The whips’ offices of all the major political parties have also been asked for documents and archives are being trawled for evidence that abuse scandals were covered up.
Full evidence hearings on the Westminster issues are scheduled for March next year but the inquiry heard that the allegations that led to it being set up by Theresa May, when she was home secretary in 2014, were no longer part of the investigation.
Mrs May created the inquiry at the height of claims that a powerful paedophile ring had been protected for decades and its members had murdered children during “sex parties” at the Dolphin Square apartment complex.
The allegations led to Scotland Yard’s disastrous Operation Midland investigation, based on the statements of a man known as “Nick”, which saw public figures including Field Marshal Lord Bramall and the former home secretary Leon Brittan being wrongly accused of offences.
Mr O’Connor said the decision not to investigate Operation Midland during the public inquiry was now “particularly compelling” because of related criminal proceedings.
He added: “‘Nick’ has now been charged with perverting the course of justice and fraud in relation to the allegations and is currently on remand awaiting trial. It is plainly imperative that nothing that we do as part of this investigation prejudices in any way the fairness of those criminal proceedings”.
Mr O’Connor said a number of other notorious cases linked to Westminster — including those of the late former MPs, Cyril Smith, a Liberal, and Victor Montagu and Peter Morrison, both Conservatives —- will be investigated.
The cases were being examined because of claims from former police officers that they had been “warned off investigating possible cases of child sexual abuse committed by senior politicians and other establishment figures in the 1960s, 70s and 80s”.
Mr O’Connor said the inquiry intended to call the secretary of the D-Notice committee, which liaises with the media over the protection of national security information, to give evidence.
The IICSA will also examine why the high ranking diplomat Peter Hayman, who died in 1992, escaped prosecution for sending obscene material through the post. The allegations against Hayman, who is believed to have been an MI6 official, were made public under parliamentary privilege in 1981.
The diplomat was a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), which during the Seventies was seeking government funding. Mr O’Connor said links between PIE and Whitehall would be investigated and the inquiry was also seeking evidence from Liberty (formerly the National Council for Civil Liberties) about its dealings with the paedophile group in the Seventies and Eighties.
October 31 2018, 12:00pm
Britain’s spy agencies will be called to give evidence about their knowledge of suspected paedophiles in the Westminster establishment, a public inquiry heard yesterday.
MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are co-operating with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and have already provided files and documents relevant to its investigation into the failure to pursue and prosecute child abusers in Whitehall and parliament.
It will be a highly unusual move for the intelligence services to present evidence at a public inquiry and a preliminary hearing was told that some material might have to be heard in secret for national security reasons.
Andrew O’Connor, QC, the inquiry counsel, said that he hoped the intelligence evidence “will be given in public hearings” but added: “It is, of course, inherent in the work that the agencies do that some information — about, for example, records that they do or do not hold — cannot be given publicly without damaging national security interests.”
The whips’ offices of all the major political parties have also been asked for documents and archives are being trawled for evidence that abuse scandals were covered up.
Full evidence hearings on the Westminster issues are scheduled for March next year but the inquiry heard that the allegations that led to it being set up by Theresa May, when she was home secretary in 2014, were no longer part of the investigation.
Mrs May created the inquiry at the height of claims that a powerful paedophile ring had been protected for decades and its members had murdered children during “sex parties” at the Dolphin Square apartment complex.
The allegations led to Scotland Yard’s disastrous Operation Midland investigation, based on the statements of a man known as “Nick”, which saw public figures including Field Marshal Lord Bramall and the former home secretary Leon Brittan being wrongly accused of offences.
Mr O’Connor said the decision not to investigate Operation Midland during the public inquiry was now “particularly compelling” because of related criminal proceedings.
He added: “‘Nick’ has now been charged with perverting the course of justice and fraud in relation to the allegations and is currently on remand awaiting trial. It is plainly imperative that nothing that we do as part of this investigation prejudices in any way the fairness of those criminal proceedings”.
Mr O’Connor said a number of other notorious cases linked to Westminster — including those of the late former MPs, Cyril Smith, a Liberal, and Victor Montagu and Peter Morrison, both Conservatives —- will be investigated.
The cases were being examined because of claims from former police officers that they had been “warned off investigating possible cases of child sexual abuse committed by senior politicians and other establishment figures in the 1960s, 70s and 80s”.
Mr O’Connor said the inquiry intended to call the secretary of the D-Notice committee, which liaises with the media over the protection of national security information, to give evidence.
The IICSA will also examine why the high ranking diplomat Peter Hayman, who died in 1992, escaped prosecution for sending obscene material through the post. The allegations against Hayman, who is believed to have been an MI6 official, were made public under parliamentary privilege in 1981.
The diplomat was a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), which during the Seventies was seeking government funding. Mr O’Connor said links between PIE and Whitehall would be investigated and the inquiry was also seeking evidence from Liberty (formerly the National Council for Civil Liberties) about its dealings with the paedophile group in the Seventies and Eighties.
It's based on what was said at the preliminary hearing in the Westminster strand of the Inquiry that was held on Tuesday. The transcript of the proceedings are on this page as a PDF file.
elbows
Well-Known Member
Although the 'Nick' side of things is understandably not being looked at, that TImes article missed out the other category of investigation that features the name Leon Brittan. I'm just going through the transcript you linked to now, and here is the part of relevance.
David Clapson
Well-Known Member
Shouldn't Carl Beech be in this thread by now? Man who said he was victim of VIP child abuse ring is named
Lurdan
old wave
Carl Beech, aka "Nick", pleaded guilty yesterday to five counts relating to making and possessing more than 300 indecent images of children, some of them Category A, the worst kind. And to one charge of voyeurism which involved secretly filming a boy while he was using a toilet.
Man admits voyeurism and indecent image charges - BBC News
Sentencing deferred to a later date, possibly after his other trial in May on charges of perverting the course of justice over his VIP abuse claims.
Mike Veale, the former Chief Constable of Wiltshire, the force which spent £1.5 million on the investigation of claims of child abuse by Ted Heath, some of which had originated from Carl Beech, resigned from his post as Chief Constable of Cleveland last Friday over unspecified "serious allegations" which have been referred to the IOPC. The Telegraph is now reporting that this relates to complaints from two women police officers of inappropriate behaviour by him.
Man admits voyeurism and indecent image charges - BBC News
Sentencing deferred to a later date, possibly after his other trial in May on charges of perverting the course of justice over his VIP abuse claims.
Mike Veale, the former Chief Constable of Wiltshire, the force which spent £1.5 million on the investigation of claims of child abuse by Ted Heath, some of which had originated from Carl Beech, resigned from his post as Chief Constable of Cleveland last Friday over unspecified "serious allegations" which have been referred to the IOPC. The Telegraph is now reporting that this relates to complaints from two women police officers of inappropriate behaviour by him.
elbows
Well-Known Member
I've been waiting for this part of the inquiry to begin and will try to find some time to pay attention to it now that this news story has alerted me.
Police 'not told' of 1980s MP abuse claim
Police 'not told' of 1980s MP abuse claim
elbows
Well-Known Member
Pages 14-39 of todays transcript certainly gives an overview of the bulk of the various historical matters which we managed to trawl through on this thread in the past. ie all the historical stuff that had been mentioned in the press or elsewhere in some way decades ago. Historical allegations of historical abuse. Everything from Piccadilly Circus to the Elm Guest House to PIE, Peter Hayman, Scallywag claims, etc. I've not got any further yet and as usual the document is laid out in an annoying format.
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/9640/view/public-hearing-transcript-4-march-2019.pdf
There is a bit on page 12 which gives some info about a witness statement from Lord Tebbit, an explanation of comments he made on telly in 2014.
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/9640/view/public-hearing-transcript-4-march-2019.pdf
There is a bit on page 12 which gives some info about a witness statement from Lord Tebbit, an explanation of comments he made on telly in 2014.
Lurdan
old wave
The transcript of yesterdays opening day of the Westminster strand of the inquiry is in the usual very annoying two column broken into sections format. I've reformatted it as a straightforward text file - here's the PDF of it. I've stripped out the line numbers and the references at the end. I've also silently corrected a couple of obvious typos and added notes in blue next to what look like some others. Hopefully I haven't added any myself.
It's very interesting IMO. Brian Altman the Counsel to the Inquiry gives an opening presentation setting out what will and what will not be dealt with. That's followed by opening statements from Counsel for some of the core participants.
The documents specifically referred to in the course of Altman's presentation are online at this page
Reading Altman's remarks I note that quite a few people seem to be lined up for some pointed questioning about past statements and actions or inactions. Alongside more obvious names I note Peter McKelvie, Don Hale of "Special Branch Ate My Dossier" fame and some of the ex-policemen who sold stories to the press.
Of the other opening statements Geoffrey Robertson's is very entertaining. He's acting for Harvey Proctor and aside from going over his allotted time, manages to say something which promptly gets redacted, urges the inquiry to rewrite its terms of reference and makes some flamboyant remarks about the good character of his client and the bad character of some of his accusers. I'm tempted to watch the video of his contribution just for the pleasure of seeing what an old ham he's become.
It's very interesting IMO. Brian Altman the Counsel to the Inquiry gives an opening presentation setting out what will and what will not be dealt with. That's followed by opening statements from Counsel for some of the core participants.
The documents specifically referred to in the course of Altman's presentation are online at this page
Reading Altman's remarks I note that quite a few people seem to be lined up for some pointed questioning about past statements and actions or inactions. Alongside more obvious names I note Peter McKelvie, Don Hale of "Special Branch Ate My Dossier" fame and some of the ex-policemen who sold stories to the press.
Of the other opening statements Geoffrey Robertson's is very entertaining. He's acting for Harvey Proctor and aside from going over his allotted time, manages to say something which promptly gets redacted, urges the inquiry to rewrite its terms of reference and makes some flamboyant remarks about the good character of his client and the bad character of some of his accusers. I'm tempted to watch the video of his contribution just for the pleasure of seeing what an old ham he's become.
elbows
Well-Known Member
Yes, I think its already clear that we will see some debunking, some wriggling and some backtracking. In a bunch of cases it looks like this will be highly appropriate, and it is less clear whether anything new of note will emerge. We are bound to see a bunch of examples of shit and twisted establishment priorities, but these will mostly be built off of cases where there is a more substantial foundation and common acceptance that there was an actual abuser and abuse (Cyril Smith, and a few other cases where people were let off the hook such as Victor Montagu). The bit where they will look at the Whips could be interesting, but I will hardly be surprised if it turns out to be far less interesting than some hope.
Lurdan
old wave
A reformatted and hopefully more readable PDF version of the transcript of yesterdays inquiry hearing. Original version and supporting documents are here on the inquiry website. On that page for each day there is a PDF file listing the contents of the various documents put online. (A witness statement from Anthony Daly the author of 'Playland' about his experiences at the time of the original Playland case in the 1970s was supposedly put up yesterday but the link doesn't work).
Yesterday Chris Mahaffey lead senior investigator for the IOPC and Commander Catherine Roper head of Professional Standards for the Met gave evidence about multiple investigations carried out into allegations of police failings and misconduct regarding the investigation of child abuse cases where prominent persons were alleged to be involved.
In both cases the main purpose of their evidence was to lay the foundation for the subsequent evidence to be heard from some of those whose allegations have been investigated.
Lord Taverne then gave evidence about his time as a junior Home Office Minister from 1966-68, and specifically a conversation he was present at during which it was stated by the then Met Commissioner that the Met avoided investigating homosexual activities in toilets near Westminster.
Yesterday Chris Mahaffey lead senior investigator for the IOPC and Commander Catherine Roper head of Professional Standards for the Met gave evidence about multiple investigations carried out into allegations of police failings and misconduct regarding the investigation of child abuse cases where prominent persons were alleged to be involved.
In both cases the main purpose of their evidence was to lay the foundation for the subsequent evidence to be heard from some of those whose allegations have been investigated.
Lord Taverne then gave evidence about his time as a junior Home Office Minister from 1966-68, and specifically a conversation he was present at during which it was stated by the then Met Commissioner that the Met avoided investigating homosexual activities in toilets near Westminster.
likesfish
You can't park here sir
noncery until recently was covered up by everyone doubly so if anyone had any influence or money.
Spooks would use any evidence as blackmail material and explaining to spooks why this was a bad thing runs into a problem of explaining concepts such a legality and morals to spooks
Spooks would use any evidence as blackmail material and explaining to spooks why this was a bad thing runs into a problem of explaining concepts such a legality and morals to spooks
Lurdan
old wave
Here is a reformatted PDF of the transcript of yesterdays IICSA hearing (6th). The original version of the transcript and supporting documents are on the inquiry website here. (Additional documents have also been put up relating to Tuesdays hearing. The broken link for one document I mentioned yesterday has now been removed entirely although the document is still listed in the revised PDF index of evidence).
Yesterday evidence was given by four former police officers: ex-DCI Howard Groves, ex-DI Andrew Surplice, ex-Superintendent Robert Glen and ex-DC Paul Foulton. The first two gave evidence about concerns they had regarding aspects of Operation Circus which they were involved with as very junior officers.
Glen gave evidence about two investigations by the Clubs Office at West End Central when he was attached to it as an inspector for nine months in 1977-78. One concerned Cyril Smith, and the other organised prostitution at the Hilton Hotel. Glen claims both were ended on instructions from Chief Superintendent Neil Diver who was in overall charge of the unit. Glen also gave an account of what he had heard of Diver's subsequent career which allegedly involved him being caught trying to book a hotel room in Piccadilly, in the company of a young man, using a forged cheque.
Foulton gave evidence regarding an occasion when he claims Special Branch officers attempted to stop him and a colleague interviewing a young man in Feltham Borstal in the course of a murder investigation. According to Foulton the interview still went ahead but after it had been established that the interviewee had an alibi for the murder, and the formal part of the interview was over, he had apparently referred to having had a sexual relationship with Cyril Smith.
All of the above claims were the subject of investigations by the IOPC and/or the Mets Professional Standards who found little or no supporting evidence from other officers or from what few records survived. The man interviewed at Feltham has denied he knew Cyril Smith. (The relevant reports are all online on the IICSA website at the link above). This was put to these four witnesses all of whom stood by the substance of their accounts.
Yesterday evidence was given by four former police officers: ex-DCI Howard Groves, ex-DI Andrew Surplice, ex-Superintendent Robert Glen and ex-DC Paul Foulton. The first two gave evidence about concerns they had regarding aspects of Operation Circus which they were involved with as very junior officers.
Glen gave evidence about two investigations by the Clubs Office at West End Central when he was attached to it as an inspector for nine months in 1977-78. One concerned Cyril Smith, and the other organised prostitution at the Hilton Hotel. Glen claims both were ended on instructions from Chief Superintendent Neil Diver who was in overall charge of the unit. Glen also gave an account of what he had heard of Diver's subsequent career which allegedly involved him being caught trying to book a hotel room in Piccadilly, in the company of a young man, using a forged cheque.
Foulton gave evidence regarding an occasion when he claims Special Branch officers attempted to stop him and a colleague interviewing a young man in Feltham Borstal in the course of a murder investigation. According to Foulton the interview still went ahead but after it had been established that the interviewee had an alibi for the murder, and the formal part of the interview was over, he had apparently referred to having had a sexual relationship with Cyril Smith.
All of the above claims were the subject of investigations by the IOPC and/or the Mets Professional Standards who found little or no supporting evidence from other officers or from what few records survived. The man interviewed at Feltham has denied he knew Cyril Smith. (The relevant reports are all online on the IICSA website at the link above). This was put to these four witnesses all of whom stood by the substance of their accounts.
Lurdan
old wave
Reformatted PDF of yesterdays IICSA hearing (Thursday 7th) is here. Original version and supporting documents are here. (It seems to take longer for reports and documents to go up, presumably because they are checked over by the lawyers).
Yesterday the inquiry heard evidence from more serving and former policemen.
Det-Supt. Kirby of Wiltshire police testified about how two former Met officers were put in touch with Mike Veale the former Wiltshire Chief Constable by a journalist. After looking at what they had to say it was referred to the Met's Operation Winter Key. The two former officers then gave evidence themselves.
Ex-Inspector Malcolm Sinclair and Ex-Inspector Paul Holmes both gave evidence about their time in the Clubs Office at West End Central. Sinclair was attached to it from 1977-79. Holmes had spent much of his career as a policeman working with the Clubs Office and it's successor units.
Both spoke about an operation which had been shut down about 1978. This was evidently a different operation to the one referred to by Ex-Supt. Glen in his evidence on the 6th, and had happened after it. Their recollections of it differed. Sinclair (at the time a sergeant) said he recalled seeing Cyril Smith pick up a young boy in Piccadilly Circus and drive him to an address in Cricklewood. This house was watched and he said that he had seen Edward Heath, Jeremy Thorpe and Leon Brittan also enter the flat during the course of this surveillance.
Paul Holmes' recollection of the operation was different. He recalled the flat belonged to Rodham Twiss, the son of a former Black Rod, who was suspected of acting as a procurer of children and young men. He thought the surveillance had been initiated because of information received about Twiss. Although he had taken part in the surveillance he had never seen any of the four people named by Sinclair. He recalled Cyril Smith's name being discussed, because Smith's activities had previously come to the attention of the Clubs Office. He did not recall any of the other three names being discussed at the time.
Both men referred to the operation being shut down. Holmes suggested a number of possible reasons why enquiries might have been stopped and why there might have been a reluctance to pursue investigations involving prominent people. He also discussed his work in the West End more generally. (Other matters were touched on by both former officers - I think it is worth reading both evidence sessions together with that of ex-Supt. Glen).
Lastly Commander Neil Jerome, current head of the Met’s Police Central Specialist Crime Command gave evidence about a report which the Met had been asked to compile about the various investigations into allegations relating to Elm Guest House. (Brief extracts were also read from a statement by former DCI Paul Settle which had been provided to the inquiry independently). People interested in Elm Guest House will wish to read the transcript of this session for themselves (and also the report and statements as they go up online). In brief no evidence of any kind was found to support the well known claims about Elm Guest House, and doubts about the credibility of Chris Fay in particular were expressed fairly bluntly.
Yesterday the inquiry heard evidence from more serving and former policemen.
Det-Supt. Kirby of Wiltshire police testified about how two former Met officers were put in touch with Mike Veale the former Wiltshire Chief Constable by a journalist. After looking at what they had to say it was referred to the Met's Operation Winter Key. The two former officers then gave evidence themselves.
Ex-Inspector Malcolm Sinclair and Ex-Inspector Paul Holmes both gave evidence about their time in the Clubs Office at West End Central. Sinclair was attached to it from 1977-79. Holmes had spent much of his career as a policeman working with the Clubs Office and it's successor units.
Both spoke about an operation which had been shut down about 1978. This was evidently a different operation to the one referred to by Ex-Supt. Glen in his evidence on the 6th, and had happened after it. Their recollections of it differed. Sinclair (at the time a sergeant) said he recalled seeing Cyril Smith pick up a young boy in Piccadilly Circus and drive him to an address in Cricklewood. This house was watched and he said that he had seen Edward Heath, Jeremy Thorpe and Leon Brittan also enter the flat during the course of this surveillance.
Paul Holmes' recollection of the operation was different. He recalled the flat belonged to Rodham Twiss, the son of a former Black Rod, who was suspected of acting as a procurer of children and young men. He thought the surveillance had been initiated because of information received about Twiss. Although he had taken part in the surveillance he had never seen any of the four people named by Sinclair. He recalled Cyril Smith's name being discussed, because Smith's activities had previously come to the attention of the Clubs Office. He did not recall any of the other three names being discussed at the time.
Both men referred to the operation being shut down. Holmes suggested a number of possible reasons why enquiries might have been stopped and why there might have been a reluctance to pursue investigations involving prominent people. He also discussed his work in the West End more generally. (Other matters were touched on by both former officers - I think it is worth reading both evidence sessions together with that of ex-Supt. Glen).
Lastly Commander Neil Jerome, current head of the Met’s Police Central Specialist Crime Command gave evidence about a report which the Met had been asked to compile about the various investigations into allegations relating to Elm Guest House. (Brief extracts were also read from a statement by former DCI Paul Settle which had been provided to the inquiry independently). People interested in Elm Guest House will wish to read the transcript of this session for themselves (and also the report and statements as they go up online). In brief no evidence of any kind was found to support the well known claims about Elm Guest House, and doubts about the credibility of Chris Fay in particular were expressed fairly bluntly.
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Lurdan
old wave
Glad they're of use. Got sick of trying to read their annoying format for the Rochdale hearings last year so this was primarily for my own benefit. Friday will be up later this evening, hopefully followed very shortly afterwards by todays sessions.
Lurdan
old wave
Reformatted versions of the transcripts of the IICSA hearings last Friday 8th - PDF here - and yesterday Monday 11th - PDF here. Originals and supporting documents on their website here.
Friday was taken up with a long evidence session with Don Hale a journalist who has been praised in the past for his work in miscarriage of justice cases. Hale has claimed that Barbara Castle supplied him with documents about Westminster supporters of PIE in 1984 when he was the acting editor of the Bury Messenger, all of which were seized by Special Branch officers in a raid in which he said they served a D-Notice on him.
Hale was questioned at length about the multiple inconsistencies between the various statements he has given police, and between those statements and the press stories, for which he either been the source or the credited co-author. I think it would be fair to say that his explanations fell somewhat short.
In what might seem like overkill Hale was followed by Geoffrey Dodds, current Secretary of the DSMA Committee to explain what D Notices are, something this "multiple award winning" journalist still didn't seem to grasp.
I must admit that I already regarded Hale's claims with a good deal of scepticism but his performance at the inquiry left me somewhat gobsmacked. Personal highlights were his repeated inability to get Rhodes Boyson's name right, even at one point misspelling it out loud, and his attempt to describe the photocopier technology available in a newspaper office in 1984. I think if I was a victim of a miscarriage of justice and I saw Don Hale OBE looming on the horizon to assist me I'd be looking around for a club to fight him off with.
(The Bury Messenger incidentally was one of the free sheets owned by Eddie Shah. It was at his Bury typesetting plant, Caps Ltd, that he first attempted to circumvent the closed shop agreement he had with the NGA by hiring non-union labour. This led to the disastrously unsuccessful strike at the Stockport Messenger in 1983-84, that humbled the NGA and set the stage for the News International strike in 1986 which broke the Fleet Street print unions. The Bury Messenger was thus an odd choice of newspaper for lifelong NUJ member Barbara Castle to have approached at any time — on the most charitable interpretation only about a quarter of the content of Shah's free titles was "news" — but particularly just after the Stockport Messenger strike had ended).
Yesterdays hearing (Monday 11th) first heard from four people about the claims that sometime in the late 1980s the Labour and Conservative parties in Chester had agreed to 'bury' the issue of Peter Morrison's paedophilia in exchange for an undertaking that he would stand down at the next election.
Doreen Frances Mowatt the Conservative Agent in Chester denied that there had ever been any rumours about Morrison at all or any meetings with the Labour Party.
Grahame Nicholls and Jane Lee both Labour Party members at the time said that they recalled a meeting at which it was said a deal had been struck between the parties about Morrison standing down.
Christine Russell, the Labour Party Agent in the relevant part of the 1980s and subsequently the M.P. for the area described a meeting that Labour Candidate David Robinson had had with Doreen Mowatt at Mowatt's request, at which Mowatt supposedly said that Morrison was unwell and would not be standing at future elections. However she said that there had been no agreement of any kind arising out of this. (Doreen Mowatt herself had denied earlier the meeting ever took place). Russell denied she had ever stated, at that time or since, that there had been a pact between the parties.
The last witness was an anonymous MI5 employee. The live feed was turned off for his testimony. He stated he was a lawyer and perhaps inevitably the first part of his evidence consisted of a tedious series of very minor amendments to the written statement he had given the inquiry. He testified that documents found in MI5 archives confirmed that MI5 had been aware of allegations about various politicians and civil servants. That very little had been done in response and what had been done gave no thought whatever to the fact that the allegations concerned possible criminal activity. Lastly he described the MI5's recently adopted and absolutely excellent safeguarding policy that would ensure the stable doors were properly lubricated in future.
Records relating to Morrison and Hayman were discussed at more length, as was an MI5 interview with the latter which doesn't seem to have led to anything. The names of Maurice Oldfield, Tom Driberg, Leon Brittan (a rumour apparently about another M.P. rather than Brittan himself), Christopher Chattaway, Charles Irving, Lord Lambton, Colin Peters and William van Straubenzee were mentioned. Can't say I heard anything new and since the concerns expressed to MI5 generally led to no action being taken, it is hard to judge whether some of those concerns were actually about paedophile activity or about homosexuality. The only thing that is clear is that there was no concern about possible victims of sexual abuse.
Friday was taken up with a long evidence session with Don Hale a journalist who has been praised in the past for his work in miscarriage of justice cases. Hale has claimed that Barbara Castle supplied him with documents about Westminster supporters of PIE in 1984 when he was the acting editor of the Bury Messenger, all of which were seized by Special Branch officers in a raid in which he said they served a D-Notice on him.
Hale was questioned at length about the multiple inconsistencies between the various statements he has given police, and between those statements and the press stories, for which he either been the source or the credited co-author. I think it would be fair to say that his explanations fell somewhat short.
In what might seem like overkill Hale was followed by Geoffrey Dodds, current Secretary of the DSMA Committee to explain what D Notices are, something this "multiple award winning" journalist still didn't seem to grasp.
I must admit that I already regarded Hale's claims with a good deal of scepticism but his performance at the inquiry left me somewhat gobsmacked. Personal highlights were his repeated inability to get Rhodes Boyson's name right, even at one point misspelling it out loud, and his attempt to describe the photocopier technology available in a newspaper office in 1984. I think if I was a victim of a miscarriage of justice and I saw Don Hale OBE looming on the horizon to assist me I'd be looking around for a club to fight him off with.
(The Bury Messenger incidentally was one of the free sheets owned by Eddie Shah. It was at his Bury typesetting plant, Caps Ltd, that he first attempted to circumvent the closed shop agreement he had with the NGA by hiring non-union labour. This led to the disastrously unsuccessful strike at the Stockport Messenger in 1983-84, that humbled the NGA and set the stage for the News International strike in 1986 which broke the Fleet Street print unions. The Bury Messenger was thus an odd choice of newspaper for lifelong NUJ member Barbara Castle to have approached at any time — on the most charitable interpretation only about a quarter of the content of Shah's free titles was "news" — but particularly just after the Stockport Messenger strike had ended).
Yesterdays hearing (Monday 11th) first heard from four people about the claims that sometime in the late 1980s the Labour and Conservative parties in Chester had agreed to 'bury' the issue of Peter Morrison's paedophilia in exchange for an undertaking that he would stand down at the next election.
Doreen Frances Mowatt the Conservative Agent in Chester denied that there had ever been any rumours about Morrison at all or any meetings with the Labour Party.
Grahame Nicholls and Jane Lee both Labour Party members at the time said that they recalled a meeting at which it was said a deal had been struck between the parties about Morrison standing down.
Christine Russell, the Labour Party Agent in the relevant part of the 1980s and subsequently the M.P. for the area described a meeting that Labour Candidate David Robinson had had with Doreen Mowatt at Mowatt's request, at which Mowatt supposedly said that Morrison was unwell and would not be standing at future elections. However she said that there had been no agreement of any kind arising out of this. (Doreen Mowatt herself had denied earlier the meeting ever took place). Russell denied she had ever stated, at that time or since, that there had been a pact between the parties.
The last witness was an anonymous MI5 employee. The live feed was turned off for his testimony. He stated he was a lawyer and perhaps inevitably the first part of his evidence consisted of a tedious series of very minor amendments to the written statement he had given the inquiry. He testified that documents found in MI5 archives confirmed that MI5 had been aware of allegations about various politicians and civil servants. That very little had been done in response and what had been done gave no thought whatever to the fact that the allegations concerned possible criminal activity. Lastly he described the MI5's recently adopted and absolutely excellent safeguarding policy that would ensure the stable doors were properly lubricated in future.
Records relating to Morrison and Hayman were discussed at more length, as was an MI5 interview with the latter which doesn't seem to have led to anything. The names of Maurice Oldfield, Tom Driberg, Leon Brittan (a rumour apparently about another M.P. rather than Brittan himself), Christopher Chattaway, Charles Irving, Lord Lambton, Colin Peters and William van Straubenzee were mentioned. Can't say I heard anything new and since the concerns expressed to MI5 generally led to no action being taken, it is hard to judge whether some of those concerns were actually about paedophile activity or about homosexuality. The only thing that is clear is that there was no concern about possible victims of sexual abuse.
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