Police
officers want legal reassurance before going public with information relating
to earlier investigations that were dropped
The Guardian, Frances Perraudin, Wednesday 18 March 2015
David Cameron has said he doesn’t want to see anybody prosecuted for passing on information to the police about the possible cover-up of a paedophile ring with alleged links to Westminster in the 1970s.
Tom Watson MP has sought reassurances from the prime minister that whistleblowers in the child abuse investigations will get full protection. Photograph: Rii Schroer/REX |
David Cameron has said he doesn’t want to see anybody prosecuted for passing on information to the police about the possible cover-up of a paedophile ring with alleged links to Westminster in the 1970s.
In light of
allegations that a police investigation into child abuse by a group of public
figures was scrapped due to political pressure, Labour MP Tom Watson asked the
prime minister for a “cast-iron guarantee” that police and intelligence
officers with information about the accusations be given “full whistleblower
protections”.
“I don’t
want to see anyone prosecuted for uncovering wrongdoing in this way,” Cameron
told MPs in the penultimate session of prime minister’s questions before the
general election, saying that both the home secretary, Theresa May, and the
attorney general had given reassurances that it is highly unlikely anybody will
be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act.
A Newsnight
report on Monday contained claims by a former detective that the late Liberal
MP Cyril Smith was arrested in the early 1980s as part of an investigation into
suspected sex parties in south London involving teenage boys, but was released
hours later.
According
to the report, officers were ordered to hand over notebooks and video footage
from their investigation shortly after they moved to make arrests and were told
they would be violating the Official Secrets Act if they revealed what had
happened.
Labour MPs
Watson, John Mann and Simon Danczuck say they have spoken to officers involved
in the case who want further legal reassurance before going public with
information.
“We will do
everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened and anybody who is
worried about whether people will be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act
for coming forward with information should be reassured by the assurances given
by the attorney general and home secretary,” Cameron told MPs on Wednesday.
Newsnight’s
report came after the Independent Police Complaints Commission announced on
Monday it was investigating 14 allegations that Scotland Yard covered up child
abuse from the 1970s to the 2000s.
Scotland
Yard launched Operation Fairbank in 2012 to investigate allegations that
high-profile political figures had been involved in organised sex abuse and,
earlier this month, the home secretary appointed Justice Goddard to head a
separate public inquiry into whether “public bodies and other non-state
institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from
sexual abuse in England and Wales”.
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