Misconduct claims against VIP abuse inquiry officer dropped
Gross misconduct proceedings have been withdrawn against a former Met Police officer who led an inquiry into what turned out to be false sex abuse allegations against a string of high-profile figures.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it had stopped its investigation into Steve Rodhouse after a "large volume of relevant material was recently disclosed" to it by the Met Police.
He faced allegations around comments made to the media in March 2016 concerning his beliefs about the honesty of two witnesses in the investigation.
In a statement, Mr Rodhouse said the allegations were "ill-founded and incorrect", adding that while he welcomed the decision he was "yet to receive an adequate explanation as to how this debacle occurred".
He led Operation Midland, which investigated false claims that MPs and generals - including former home secretary Lord Brittan, D-Day Veteran Lord Bramall, and ex-Conservative MP Harvey Proctor - had abused and murdered children.
The operation was largely based on claims made by Carl Beech, who was jailed in 2019 for making false allegations.
Mr Rodhouse was due to face a disciplinary hearing for potentially breaching police professional standards of behaviour for honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct.
The former Met deputy assistant commissioner was also alleged to have subsequently made remarks to former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, who had been commissioned to carry out an independent review of the handling of the operation in August 2016.
Beech was sentenced to 18 years in prison for 12 counts of perverting the course of justice, one of fraud, and for several child sexual offences after a damning review by Sir Richard recommended he be investigated by another police force.
But the BBC revealed in 2019 that two other complainants who had made false claims were not referred by the Met for investigation, despite Sir Richard recommending they should be.
The investigation by the IOPC related to an alleged contrast between Mr Rodhouse's private and public positions.
It was claimed Mr Rodhouse told Sir Richard in a private presentation in 2016 that he was "satisfied" the other two complainants had "told deliberate lies". Mr Rodhouse disputes that claim.
When Operation Midland had closed months earlier with no arrests or charges, Scotland Yard issued a public statement to the media that said detectives had "not found evidence to prove that they were knowingly misled by a complainant".
New material presented to the IOPC by the Met Police led to the investigation being closed.
The police watchdog said there was "no evidence" within the fresh material that there was "any inappropriate motivation in Mr Rodhouse's comments to the media" or which "supports that he made those remarks during Sir Richard's review".
It said there was "substantial evidence to indicate" comments made to the media were "the result of collaboration between senior Met officers and staff".
The police watchdog added that there had also been "appropriate considerations, including a desire not to discourage victims of historic sex offences coming forward".
Mr Proctor said he was the complainant in the scrapped gross misconduct proceedings against Mr Rodhouse.
He labelled the IOPC's decision not to proceed as "disgraceful" and said it was an "insult to victims of false allegations and a betrayal of the public's trust".
He added: "For Mr Rodhouse to claim he acted with 'honesty, integrity and care' in Operation Midland is as grotesque as it is offensive."
Speaking about the operation, the former MP said that "innocent men, including myself, had our reputations shredded, homes raided, and lives wrecked based on obvious falsehoods".
"I will never get over what was done to me," he said. "Operation Midland is not history to me - it lives with me every hour of every day."
Mr Rodhouse, who is now a director at the National Crime Agency, said he was "pleased" the IOPC had "recognised that I acted with honesty, integrity and care throughout a difficult investigation".
He said police officers "must have confidence that any complaints about their conduct will be competently investigated in a balanced and timely fashion", adding "I now look forward to resuming my career investigating and prosecuting serious criminals."
IOPC Director Amanda Rowe said its decision on Thursday "does not change our finding that by failing to follow Sir Richard's recommendation in his review to investigate the witnesses, the Met's service was unacceptable".
She said: "Its subsequent reviews concluding no investigation was needed were flawed", adding, "we apologise to all of those affected and we are working with the force to establish exactly how and why this situation has occurred, and to reduce the risk of it happening again."
Ms Rowe said the police watchdog had reported a "potential crime" to the Met during its investigation, which was being "actively investigated by another force".
'VIP abuse' accuser jailed for 18 years
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Illegal work arrests double in year as police target 'unscrupulous' employers
Arrests for illegal work have doubled in a year as police focus on "unscrupulous" employers who exploit undocumented migrants, the government says. Immigration officers arrested more than 6,400 people in the past year in raids at businesses across the UK, data released by the Home Office shows. It said the figure is 51% higher than the previous year. It did not provide numbers as to how many arrests led to charges, convictions or deportations. It said immigration enforcement officials had "intensified" their work to "tackle those abusing the UK immigration system and exploiting vulnerable people". Officers had visited more than 9,000 businesses - among them restaurants, nail bars and construction sites - to check paperwork and working conditions. Such businesses had often subjected migrants to "squalid conditions and illegal working hours" as well as below-minimum wages. The Home Office said there were a range of industries exploiting migrant workers. In one case in Surrey, officers arrested nine people at a caravan park who had been working as delivery drivers. At one one major operation in March, officers arrested 36 people at a building site in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Some had breached visa conditions while others didn't have working rights. Immigration Enforcement director Eddy Montgomery said there were many cases where people travelling to the UK were "sold a lie by smuggling gangs that they will be able to live and work freely in the UK. "In reality, they often end up facing squalid living conditions, minimal pay and inhumane working hours," he said. Dame Angela Eagle, the minister for border security and asylum, said the government would "continue to root out unscrupulous employers and disrupt illegal workers who undermine our border security". The government said it had also returned nearly 30,000 people over the past year who did not have the right to be in the UK. It has said it is cracking down on illegal migration, setting out its plans in a White Paper to tighten work visas and those overstaying. It scrapped a special visa for care workers introduced during the pandemic, noting that this had been a pathway exploited by some. There was mixed reaction to the plans, with some business sectors decrying the restrictions on work visas, while some Conservative opponents said the reforms didn't go far enough to stop illegal migration. The most recent data shows that approximately 44,000 people have entered the UK illegally in the year to March 2025, more than 80% through small boat journeys.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
'You Deserve Better': Veterans Rally on National Mall Against Trump Cuts
Thousands of veterans gathered and raised their fists to the rhythm of the punk rock band Dropkick Murphys on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall on Friday, rallying against the Trump administration's federal job cuts and the potential loss of government services. Many attendees of the Unite for Veterans, Unite for America Rally carried signs, including some that read "I Stand With Vets;" "Respect, Honor, Pay, Veterans;" and "VA Support Isn't a Gift, It's a Debt." The protest rally, part of the growing public concern over the administration's plans to dramatically reshape the federal government, also coincided with the 81st anniversary of D-Day. Since President Donald Trump took office, layoffs from government jobs have affected veterans who make up a large percentage of the federal workforce, with some congressional estimates that around 6,000 former service members have lost their livelihoods. An internal memo obtained by in March showed that more than 80,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees could be fired, which advocates say would harm important services. Read Next: White House Asked Joint Chiefs Chairman for Candidates to Lead NASA, Worrying Experts Lead singer of the Dropkick Murphys Ken Casey said it in his own way, telling the veterans in the crowd that he supported them before tearing into newly released music. Veterans in attendance associated the band with their service during the Global War on Terror. "We have always stood with the vets, and the vets have always stood with the Dropkick Murphys," Casey said. "When sh-- ain't right, we're going to speak up. That's what it's all about and guess what? Sh-- ain't right!" Former Army Sgt. Will Attig, who recalls being an 18-year-old riding in a Humvee and listening to Dropkick Murphys music during his deployment to Iraq, said it was a surreal moment to be standing on a stage next to Casey. "There's a connection with music," said Attig, who was one of the organizers of the event. "Music is a part of the veterans community. ... Music is one of the ways we fight back." The protest brought together veterans advocacy groups and service members from different generations like Randall Goldberg, a former Army soldier who said he left the service in 1970 and is angered by the Trump administration's actions when it comes to veterans. "There has to be resistance to those folks," Goldberg said of the loss of federal jobs and projected cuts. "It's nuts; it's nothing fair." In addition to numerous generations of veterans in attendance, vocal veterans in Congress also spoke and made appearances at the event. Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat and a Marine Corps veteran, told in an interview on the National Mall that the potential cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs have pushed many former service members to speak out. "We just tend to suck it up, right?" Gallego said of the veteran community. "I think this has pushed a lot of veterans to an existential moment, because we've never seen something like this." Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who was wounded in combat, rallied the crowd as one of the scheduled speakers. She spoke out about many of Trump's policies and the so-called "One Big, Beautiful Bill," legislation working through Congress to enact Trump's agenda that she described as "a middle finger to our heroes" by offering tax cuts instead of keeping jobs. The crowd, in response, raised their own middle fingers to the sky. "You deserve better; you've earned better," Duckworth said during her remarks. "Since our warriors landed on the beaches of Normandy on this very day 81 years ago, those who have worn the uniform have defied the odds to define America at her best. America is what she is today because of the blood of brothers and sisters shed in combat zones." Dropkick Murphys played many of their signature hits, including "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" and "Rose Tattoo," but it was a newly released song played by the band titled "Who'll Stand With Us?" that appeared to strike the biggest chord. "Who'll stand with us? Don't tell us everything is fine, Who'll stand with us? Because this treatment is a crime," Casey belted to the crowd, with many attendees nodding in agreement. Related: Dropkick Murphys, Lawmakers to Join Veterans in Washington on D-Day to Protect VA Benefits, Federal Jobs
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump scorns Merkel legacy during new German chancellor's White House visit
Donald Trump has heaped criticism on the former German chancellor Angela Merkel for opening up her country to refugees, telling her successor: 'I told her it shouldn't have happened.' During an appearance with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Thursday, Trump was asked about the sweeping travel restrictions on 19 countries that he announced the previous day. 'We want to keep bad people out of our country … of course, you have a little problem too with some of the people that were allowed into your country,' Trump said to Merz, in an apparent reference to a number of attacks in Germany involving refugees. Merz replied: 'Yes we do,' before Trump continued: 'It's not your fault … It shouldn't have happened. I told her it shouldn't have happened, but it did. But you have your own difficulty with that, and we do.' He was referring to Merkel, but did not call her by name. The former chancellor visited the White House in 2017, during Trump's first term of office, when she was given a grilling by Trump over her so-called open-door policy, which allowed around 1 million refugees – mainly from Syria and Iraq – into Germany. Merz's highly anticipated visit had been viewed with trepidation in Berlin, amid fears that the German leader may face another Oval Office ambush, such as those endured by Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. In the end, all the criticism was levied at Merkel, a former political rival of Merz. Trump also made a dig about Merkel's enthusiasm for the building of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which brought gas from Russia to Europe. During the 35-minute press conference, Merz struggled to get a word in, though as German commentators noted, that was probably to the relief of his advisers, who feared there were a number of issues on which Trump might have pilloried him, from defence spending to immigration. When he did manage to speak, the former corporate lawyer mostly focused on Ukraine and the need to end the conflict, in particular by bringing the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to account. Merz also pushed back several times on Trump's narrative that Ukraine and Russia were equally to blame for the war. Related: Trump says it may be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' 'I'm here, Mr President, to talk to you later on how we could contribute to that goal [to end the war]. We are all looking for measures and for instruments to bring this terrible war to an end,' Merz said. He compared the US role in ending the conflict with the part US troops played in defeating the Nazi dictatorship. He noted that Friday will mark the 81st anniversary of D-day, in which tens of thousands of US troops joined allied troops in invading Normandy. The US, he said, was 'again, in the very strong position to do something' about ending the war. Trump, he said, was the 'key person in the world' who could stop the war 'by putting pressure on Russia'. Trump praised Germany for having agreed to boost its defence spending to 5% of GDP, after years-long demands from Washington for it to do so. Asked by a German journalist whether Berlin was 'doing enough on defence', Trump said: 'I know you're spending more money on defence now. Quite a bit more money. That's a positive.' But to some nervous laughter in the room, he quipped that he was 'not sure if Gen MacArthur would have said it's positive,' a reference to the supreme commander for the allied powers, among whose focuses was postwar demilitarisation. Merz prepared for the visit in part by talking to other leaders who have met Trump in recent months to gather tips about the best way to handle him. Merkel has said that she prepared for her first Trump visit – when he was less well-known as a politician – by reading a 1980s interview with him in Playboy and watching episodes of The Apprentice. Merz was put up for the night in the official government guest house, Blair House, which his advisers said was a signal that the two leaders – who refer to one other by their first names – were on a good footing. Merz presented Trump with a gold-framed birth certificate of his grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who emigrated from Germany in 1885, as well as a book titled News from the Land of Freedom – German Immigrants Write Home, which is a collection of letters written by German émigrés in the US to their families back in Germany. 'It is a small present to remind him of his family,' Merz said. He has also invited Trump to Germany to visit his grandfather's home village.
