The Power of the Paedos - another high profile case hits the 'never happened' wall?

[David Guyatt]

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Leon Brittan abused me and other children at Westminster VIP paedophile parties: What child-sex victim told police

• Jan 24, 2015 22:30
  
• By Keir Mudie, Mark Conrad
  

The former Home Secretary who died last week was at the centre of allegations involving an establishment paedophile ring operating in Westminster


An alleged victim of a Westminster paedophile ring claimed to police that Leon Brittan abused him more than a dozen times.
The witness known as Nick said he also saw most of his friends molested by the former Home Secretary who died on Wednesday aged 75.
Making the bombshell claims, Nick first spoke to investigative website Exaro last year and identified Mr Brittan as being present at VIP abuse parties.
Asked how he knew who he was, Nick told the website: "Well, he told me. Not his full name. He told me that it was Leon. And it was only later in my adult life that I then knew who it was."
Friends and colleagues of Mr Brittan, *including former Cabinet Ministers Michael Howard, John Gummer and David Mellor, last week defended his legacy and poured scorn on the allegations.
Mr Howard said: "I think it is a tragedy that his last days were dogged by these quite unsubstantiated allegations."
Mr Gummer, now Lord Deben, branded *unsubstantiated claims as "wicked" while Mr Mellor said: "I am especially sad he died after he was subjected to unwarranted criticism and innuendo."
Mr Brittan himself had always strenuously denied any allegation of sexual wrongdoing.
PA
Well connected: Brittan was a key member of Margaret Thatcher's Tory government But a major police investigation into paedophile rings at the highest level of the Establishment which includes testimony against Mr Brittan continues and witness Nick stands by his account.
Police are also examining claims based on Nick's evidence that Mr Brittan was present when two unidentified men, who were part of the network, murdered a boy in a physical beating following sexual abuse around 1981 or 1982.
And they have received *further allegations he sexually abused boys at the Carlton Club in the St James's area of London, as well as Dolphin Square and elsewhere.
The Sunday People has published a number of stories in the past 12 months into the allegations made about Mr Brittan.
The paper decided not to name him because of *on-going police investigations into the claims.
Campaigning MP Tom Watson has worked closely with survivors since he first raised the issue of a VIP paedophile network with links to Downing Street in 2012.
He said: "Many have urged me over the past two years to reveal allegations against Brittan using parliamentary privilege.
"This allows MPs to say things that are not subject to libel laws. Some will ask why I've waited until his death to speak out. The reason is simple. I didn't want to prejudice any jury trial he might have had to face."
Questions: Campaigning MP Tom WatsonNick says he is devastated after learning of the death of the former Cabinet Minister and fears it may now be too late to get justice.
After handing a list of prominent people who allegedly abused him, including Mr Brittan, to police he is worried that the death will bring *investigations to a halt.
During an interview with reporters last year, Nick described the abuse he allegedly suffered by Mr Brittan during VIP sex *parties in London.
Nick said the top *politician treated boys with "complete contempt", sexually abusing him "probably every time I was there".
He added: "He would treat me like I was not even human."
Asked how he would describe Mr Brittan, he said simply: "Nasty, cruel, sadistic and hateful."
Although he has declined to comment publicly after an agreement with Scotland Yard detectives, Nick said he was devastated by the death of the man he claims raped him repeatedly at Dolphin Square and feared for the future of the investigation.
exaronews.com
Allegations: VIP abuse witness 'Nick'He urged police to continue.
A source close to the Metropolitan Police team confirmed they were preparing to revisit an alleged female victim "Jane" who claims Mr Brittan raped her while she was a student.
The Met said in a statement on Friday: "A further review of case remains ongoing."
Jane alleges she was raped by Mr Brittan in 1967 before he became an MP and when she was a student in London aged 19.
The Sunday People revealed Jane's allegations of how, on a blind date, he tricked her into his flat, locked her in, then raped her .
Following Exaro's report, Mr Watson wrote a strongly worded letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, asking her to *review the case.
Ms Saunders put pressure on the Met to interview Mr Brittan about the allegations, in line with police guidelines.
Mr Brittan denied to police that he even knew of the complainant, and entirely rejected the rape allegation.
Rex
Powerful: Brittan before leaving to take up his post as European CommissionerAfter learning of his death, Jane said: "We cannot be left high and dry. People need to know the truth about Leon Brittan.
"It was particularly difficult to hear ex-politicians coming forward with flowery tributes at a time when he was still *under investigation for rape.
"I am sure it is also difficult for all of his alleged victims to hear senior figures refer to these allegations as mere conspiracy theories'."
Michael, Jane's partner, added: "It is despairing for his alleged victims to hear lavish tributes."
Campaigning journalist Don Hale said former Labour cabinet Minister Barbara Castletold him that Mr Brittan was "a man she could not trust".
She said he was "a powerful man with many secrets" and claimed colleagues "dare not get the wrong side of him".
REX/POPPERFOTO/GETTY IMAGES
Not to be trusted: Barbara Castle said Brittan was 'a powerful man with many secrets'And she was highly critical of Mr Brittan's handling of a dossier said to have contained the names of VIP *paedophiles which Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens handed to him in 1983.
Mr Brittan confirmed last year he had received the dossier and it had been handed on to police. But a search of Home Office files could find no trace of it.
Mrs Castle's own files on the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange, which was urging ministers to legalise sex with children, were seized by Special Branch officers who raided Mr Hale's weekly *newspaper office in Bury, Lancs, in 1984.
Mr Hale claims Mrs Castle had warned him that Mr Brittan used Special Branch as his own outfit.
Now campaigners are desperate for the dead politician's own files to be preserved for investigators.
Alison Millar of law firm Leigh Day, representing abuse victims, said: "It is absolutely vital that fresh efforts are now put into preserving his documents and files to enable the *inquiry to learn more about what he knew about abuse among Establishment figures during his time in Government."
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We do not comment on ongoing enquiries."
VIEW GALLERY Voice of the Sunday People: Our biggest duty is to victims of abuse

The Sunday People did not take the decision lightly to name Leon Brittan as an alleged member of a Westminster paedophile ring.
We know we may be accused by his friends of spitting on his grave. We know we may be accused by his family of causing them more pain.
And we know we may be accused by the Establishment of shredding the reputation of a distinguished public servant who can no longer defend himself.
But to do otherwise would be to abdicate our duty towards the *victims of historical sex abuse.
This newspaper has spent months investigating allegations against Lord Brittan. They are many, varied and credible.
We did not name him because police were also carrying out *investigations. They believe the *allegations to be credible too.
Lord Brittan may have appeared before a jury. So our concern was prejudicing a criminal trial.
Not our fate in a libel trial.
His death means survivors of abuse have been denied a shot at the justice they believe they deserve.
Whatever the truth, we are in no doubt that there was a disgraceful Establishment cover-up to protect high-profile paedophiles.
Had that not taken place, this shameful episode would have been resolved long ago.
That is what Theresa May's *historical sex abuse inquiry was designed to unveil.
Yet 203 days after she announced it there is still no progress. And Lord Brittan cannot now be a witness.
That is not good enough. It is not good enough for the survivors. It is not good enough for the country.
It is manifestly in the public *interest for the allegations against Lord Brittan to be publicly tested.
It is a matter of common decency and humanity to ensure survivors get the closure that is their due.
Whatever the truth about Lord Brittan, it cannot be allowed to die with him.