The widow of former home secretary Lord Brittan, who was falsely accused of being part of a paedophile ring in Westminster, said her trust in the Met and the police watchdog has been “severely undermined” after an investigation into an officer over his handling of the claims was dropped.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said last week it had stopped the investigation into former Met deputy assistant commissioner Steve Rodhouse 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.
The allegations 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.
They also involved remarks he is alleged to have subsequently made to former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, who had been commissioned to carry out an independent review of the handling of Operation Midland in August 2016.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lady Diana 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.”
Operation Midland was launched off the back of lurid and false allegations made by fantasist Carl Beech – later jailed for 18 years for what a judge called “cruel and callous” lies.
The Metropolitan Police’s 16-month investigation into fake claims of a VIP paedophile ring saw raids on the homes of Lord Brittan, as well as D-Day veteran Lord Bramall and ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor.
The probe ended in 2016 without a single arrest after Beech made a series of baseless allegations, including of three murders.
The force was heavily criticised for believing Beech too readily despite inconsistencies in his evidence, including naming witnesses who did not exist.
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 which “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 he would be writing to Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to “demand a meeting and an explanation”.
Lady Brittan said she felt her husband’s legacy had been permanently tarnished by the episode, 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.”
In response to Lady Brittan’s comments, an IOPC spokesperson said: “Our recent decision does not change our finding that – by failing to follow Sir Richard Henrique’s recommendation to investigate the witnesses in his independent review of the Met’s handling of Op Midland – the Met’s service was unacceptable and its subsequent reviews concluding no investigation was needed were flawed.
“During our investigation we reported a potential crime to the Met, which is being actively investigated by another force.”
