2 days ago
Lady Brittan attacks Met Police for dropping sex case review
Lord Brittan's widow has criticised the Metropolitan Police for dropping an investigation into an officer's handling of the paedophile claims against her husband.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said last week it had stopped the investigation into Steve Rodhouse, the former Met deputy assistant commissioner, after a 'large volume of relevant material was recently disclosed to the IOPC by the Metropolitan Police'.
Mr Rodhouse was due to face a disciplinary hearing for potentially breaching police professional standards of behaviour for honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct.
It followed the Met's 16-month Operation Midland into fake claims of a VIP paedophile ring by fantasist Carl Beech, which saw raids on the homes of Lord Brittan, as well as Lord Bramall, a D-Day veteran, and Harvey Proctor, the ex-Tory MP.
Beech was later jailed for 18 years for what a judge called 'cruel and callous' lies.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lady Brittan said she had hoped the investigation would bring a sense of 'closure'.
She said: 'My husband was a high-profile individual, but at every level of society, there are people who are falsely accused, and for them (also) it's the ruining of reputation, it's the anxiety that goes with it.
'I feel that it would have at least put a closure, to use that odd word, on the whole episode if somebody had been held to account, either for misconduct, or even for incompetence.'
The force was heavily criticised for believing Beech too readily despite inconsistencies in his evidence, including naming witnesses who did not exist.
The allegations against Mr Rodhouse had centred around comments made to the media in March 2016 concerning his beliefs about the honesty of two witnesses to Operation Midland, a Met investigation into allegations of non-recent sexual abuse.
But the IOPC said there was 'no evidence' within the material provided from the Met that there was 'any inappropriate motivation in Mr Rodhouse's comments to the media' or that 'supports that he made those remarks during Sir Richard's review'.
Mr Rodhouse said the allegations made against him were 'ill-founded and incorrect'.
Mr Proctor said he was 'appalled' by the 'disgraceful decision' not to proceed, adding that he would be writing to Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police commissioner, to 'demand a meeting and an explanation'.
Lady Brittan said she felt her husband's legacy had been permanently tarnished, telling the BBC: 'What I really feel very sorry about is the fact that my husband was a great public servant.
'When he died, his obituaries referred to all of this.'
