MP's,Celebs & Paedophilia

[Johnny Wadd]

Cyril Smith MP: Detective claims three probes were stopped

A former detective has said three investigations into Cyril Smith sex abuse allegations were stopped.

Retired Det Sgt Jack Tasker, who served with Lancashire Police, carried out the third investigation, following two by the former Rochdale Borough force.

He claimed senior officers ordered him to hand over notes and warned he would be "in serious trouble" if he continued the investigation.

He believes someone "high up" made sure the case never got to court.

Mr Tasker said he was asked in 1969 to investigate the allegations by officers from Rochdale, whose own inquiries into abuse at the privately-run Cambridge House care home in the town had been halted.

'We believed them'

"They had twice investigated Cyril Smith for paedophilia and each time the chief constable of Rochdale [the late Patrick Ross] had taken the file away and told them to stop," he said.

"They suggested that myself and [my partner] could get into Rochdale and get around these people without anyone getting to know.

"They gave us the names of the boys and we interviewed them and eventually, with a solicitor, we interviewed Cyril Smith at the police station."

He said he believed the evidence given by the boys, who had been residents of the home.

"There was no DNA in those days - you had to believe the victims when they told you, and, quite frankly, myself and my colleague did believe them," he said.

Later he interviewed Smith at a police station in the presence of his solicitor.

"He was very, very nervous, and his last words when he left with his solicitor was, 'This will kill my mother'," he said.

"We concluded that he had a case to answer and I think those boys would have stood up in court.

"My opinion of Cyril Smith was that he was a big bumptious bully and any decent barrister or solicitor would have made mincemeat of him."

The same opinion was voiced by a detective superintendent in a 1970 report to the chief constable of Lancashire as part of a fourth investigation.

This got as far as the Director of Public Prosecutions, who decided not to proceed.

'Scratching the surface'
Later Mr Tasker said two senior officers came to his office and told him to hand over "every scrap of paper" on the investigation.

"[They said] we must keep out of Rochdale and we must not speak to anyone about the Cyril Smith inquiry or we'd be in serious trouble," he said.

He believes many other men were involved in the abuse and the Smith investigations were only "scratching the surface".

"It was obvious that someone quite high up, quite powerful, was making sure that Cyril Smith never appeared before a court."

Smith's family said he always denied such accusations and said they were saddened that allegations were now being made when he could no longer defend himself.

The Smith family said they would continue to co-operate with any further investigations.

Jimmy Savile's family also said that he couldn't defend against the allegations leveled at him

FUCKIN' NONCE

[Johnny Wadd]

Editor explains why he didn't publish Barbara Castle's paedophile dossier


It revealed that a former newspaper editor, Don Hale, was handed a dossier at some time in the early 1980s about 16 high-profile political figures who appeared sympathetic to the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE).

The document was given to Hale, the then editor of the Bury Messenger, by the late Barbara Castle, the veteran Labour politician.

At the time, Castle was a member of the European parliament for Greater Manchester after her 34-year stint as MP for Blackburn.

According to the Star's report, once Hale began to investigate the claims made in the dossier "an astonishing operation kicked in to silence the claims."

First, Hale said he was visited by the Liberal MP for Rochdale, Cyril Smith, who tried to persuade the journalist that it was "all poppycock".

Second, Hale said special branch officers arrived at the Messenger's office, showed him a D-notice and warned him of imprisonment if he failed to hand over the dossier.

Hale had agreed with Castle that he would run a story the week after she handed him her documents. He was quoted by the Star as saying:

"Obviously, I had to contact certain members named [in the dossier] and the home office for their responses.

Each call was met with shock *horror as to why I should be wasting my time asking these 'daft' questions as nothing was happening within parliament.

When I explained the detailed nature of the information available and that I couldn't reveal my source, you could almost hear a pin drop as officials were unsure as to what to say or do."

Then came the special branch visit. Hale said: "I was sworn to secrecy by special branch at the risk of jail if I repeated any of the allegations.

"When I met Barbara again, she apologised for the 'hassle' caused and reluctantly admitted she was fighting a formidable foe."

The revelations follow revelations about a dossier compiled by the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens detailing an alleged Westminster paedophile ring.

Don Hale later became editor of the Matlock Mercury where he successfully campaigned for the release of Stephen Downing, a man wrongly imprisoned for 27 years for murder. Downing's conviction was quashed and declared unsafe by the appeal court in 2001.

Hale was named journalist of the year in the 2001 What the Papers Say awards and received the OBE for his campaigning journalism.

Since leaving the Mercury in 2001 Hale has written several books, mostly about crime.

[Johnny Wadd]

I was warned I could be responsible for Leon Brittan's death if asked about paedophile dossier, claims Labour MP
Simon Danczuk claims a Tory minister urged him not to name Brittan
He told home affairs committee ex-Home Secretary had questions to answer
Says he was warned he could be responsible for Lord Brittan’s death
Lord Brittan insists he passed on dossier of abuse claims to officials

Senior politicians warned a Labour MP against challenging former Tory Home Secretary Leon Brittan about a dossier detailing allegations of child sex abuse.
Simon Danczuk claims he came under ‘pressure’ from several people, including a current Conservative minister, not to name Lord Brittan in front of a Commons committee.
Amazingly, Mr Danczuk was even warned he could be responsible for Lord Brittan’s death if he was subjected to the stress of becoming embroiled in a public row.
Mr Danczuk who has carried out his own investigation into child abuse by the former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith, said there was a culture of 'move along, nothing to see here'.
At an appearance in front of the home affairs select committee last week, Mr Danczuk revealed that Lord Brittan had been sent a dossier of allegations about paedophiles between 1983 and 1985 by Geoffrey Dickens MP.
The Labour MP said he believed politics was the 'last refuge of child sex abuse deniers' and repeated his call for a Hillsborough-style inquiry into historical paedophile allegations.
Lord Brittan said in a statement later that he was handed a ‘substantial bundle of papers’ by Mr Dickens in November 1983 and passed them to his officials for further investigation.
But Mr Danczuk claims he was warned off putting Lord Brittan’s name into the public domain in connection with the files said to contain details of a vile paedophile network in Westminster.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said he was approached by a current government minister and urged not to name Lord Brittan.
‘As I was I was making my way from the House of Commons on Monday night after a late vote a Tory minister stepped out of the shadows to confront me.
‘I'd never spoken to him before in my life but he blocked my way and ushered me to one side.
‘He warned me to think very carefully about what I was going to say the next day before the Home Affairs Select Committee when I'd be answering questions on child abuse.’
Mr Danczuk did not name the Tory minister, but said he was told: 'I hear you're about to challenge Lord Brittan about what he knew about child sex abuse.’

He was told it would not be a ‘wise move’ to name Lord Brittan, adding: ‘It was all put to bed a long time ago.'
Mr Danczuk added: ‘We looked at each other in silence for a second. I knew straight away he wasn't telling me this out of concern for the man's welfare. There was no compassion in his voice.’
The Rochdale MP believes similar conversations were being held across Westminster, as allegations swirled over the handling of child abuse claims in Parliament and Whitehall.
He claimed members of the home affairs committee were ‘paid similar visits... phone calls had been made’.

MPs who had previously indicated they would ask him who he thought knew about the VIP child abuse ring at the notorious Elm Guest House in southwest London were ‘suddenly silent’, Mr Danczuk added.
To his surprise, when he confirmed that he had been put under pressure ‘to keep quiet about suspected child abusers’ no further questions were asked.
He said the MPs did not need to ask here the pressure was coming from ‘because they all knew’.
He also claimed police officers feared political interference.
'Among the higher echelons of party politics, where the real power resides, my impression is that there is little appetite to confront the abusers in their midst,' Mr Danczuk said.
'Quite the opposite. The mood is defensive, the approach is dominated by silence. 'Move along, nothing to see here,' or 'what's the point in raking all that up old boy?' is the attitude I have seen time after time.'
He said he was visited by police officers 'to discuss an investigation into a current parliamentarian accused of horrific child abuse'.
He said the police asked him: 'Did I think it was likely that their inquiries would be met by political interference.'
He went on: 'I looked at them in utter disbelief. How can the police put a Cabinet Minister behind bars for lying about speeding points but be worried they couldn't properly investigate someone for child abuse?
'The incident spoke volumes about the mindset that pervades politics. This kind of obstructive, 'Look the other way, sweep it under the carpet' thinking threatens to drag politics to new depths of public hate.'

[Johnny Wadd]

Westminster paedophile ring allegations: timeline

Here are the key events in the claims around an alleged VIP paedophile ring in Westminster


November 1983 – Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens sends 40-page dossier to then Home Secretary Leon Brittan detailing alleged child abusers within the British Establishment. It contains the names of Cyril Smith and other senior politicians.

November 1983 – Mr Dickens tells his family “That’s it now. Let it all begin. This is going to blow it all apart.”

March 1984 – Mr Brittan writes to Mr Dickens to say the dossier has been assessed by prosecutors and handed to the police.

May 1995 – Mr Dickens dies with knowledge that no arrests or prosecutions have ever been bought as a result of his dossier.

September 2010 – Rochdale MP Cyril Smith dies having never been charged with any child abuse offences.

September and October 2012 – The Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal breaks fuelling a litany of historical sex abuse allegations.

October 2012 – Labour MP Tom Watson claims during Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons that there is “clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No10”.

November 2012 – Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk uses parliamentary privilege to claim that Cyril Smith was a “29-stone bully” who sexually abused boys. He says new alleged victims have come forward in the wake of the Savile scandal.

November 2012 – The Crown Prosecution Service revealed they considered allegations against Smith in 1970, 1998 and 1999 but rejected them on each occasions. The CPS and Greater Manchester Police admit Smith should have been prosecuted.

December 2012 – Scotland Yard confirms that Operation Fairbank has been set up to examine allegations surrounding Elm Guest House in Barnes, south west London, where it was claimed prominent men, including politicians, abused young men in the 1970s and 1980s.

February 2013 – Operation Fernbridge is formally launched to investigate the alleged paedophile ring connected to Elm Guest House.

December 2013 – Police search the home of Lord Janner as part of an investigation in to historical child sex abuse allegations. The peer is not arrested.

June 2014 – Lord Janner’s Westminster offices are searched by police. The peer is not arrested.

July 3, 2014 – It emerges the Geoffrey Dickens 1983 dossier has disappeared. The Home Office can find no record of it or any subsequent criminal inquiry. Lord Brittan amends his story twice over his dealings with the original document.

July 5, 2014 – More than 10 current and former politicians are reported to now be on a list of alleged child abusers held by police investigated claims of a Westminster paedophile ring.

July 6, 2014 – Home Office permanent secretary Mark Sedwill reveals that 114 files relating to historic allegations of child sex abuse, from between 1979 and 1999, have disappeared from the Home Office.

[Johnny Wadd]

Fourteen men questioned over Knowl View abuse in Rochdale

Fourteen men have been questioned over allegations including historical sexual and physical abuse at Knowl View residential school in Rochdale.

Police said the men, aged between 35 and 66, had been interviewed under caution over the past month.

The school, which closed in the 1990s, has been linked with the alleged abuse of boys by the late MP Cyril Smith.

Eighteen people have come forward with complaints related to abuse by adults and between the pupils themselves.

The allegations relate to a period between 1969 and 1990.

Det Ch Supt Russ Jackson said: "The investigation into abuse at Knowl View School continues and since the start of the inquiry further victims have come forward.

"These are serious allegations made against both staff and pupils at the school and are being thoroughly investigated."

He added: "We are currently working through the allegations and as a result 14 people so far have been interviewed under caution."

[Johnny Wadd]

Police examine claims late Cardiff MP George Thomas abused boy

Police say they are investigating allegations the former House of Commons speaker George Thomas sexually abused a nine-year-old boy.

The alleged victim, now aged 55, told the Mirror newspaper he was abused in the 1960s and 1970s by the late MP who was a friend of his foster parents.

Police issued a statement saying they were investigating claims first made in 2013 and apologised for the delay.

The force has referred the matter to the police watchdog, the IPCC.

The alleged victim, who now lives in Australia, told the newspaper he was raped by Thomas, who later became Viscount Tonypandy, at his home and another address in Cardiff.

"He spent a lot of time at my house as my parents were good friends with him. Things started small but then got a lot worse. It has been with me all my life," he said.

He claims he reported the abuse to South Wales Police on two occasions but was "disappointed" with the response from officers.

'Unacceptable delay'

South Wales Police Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Holland said: "We were made aware of these allegations in April 2013 and have attempted to get in touch with the victim.

"Unfortunately, incorrect contact information was used and as a result we failed to make contact with him. We have since spoken to the victim, apologised for the delay and are investigating his claims.

"This delay was clearly unacceptable and we have referred the matter to the IPCC.

"It is important that victims have the confidence to come forward and speak to us. We take any allegations regarding sexual assault or rape extremely seriously and urge anyone who has been a victim of this type of crime to make contact with us."

A spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) confirmed it had received a referral from the force and was assessing it.

Viscount Tonypandy, who was an MP in Cardiff from 1945 to 1983 died of cancer in 1997, aged 88.

The Methodist preacher held the role of Secretary of State for Wales from 1968 to 1970 and was Commons Speaker between 1976 and 1983.

[Johnny Wadd]

Colin Wallace: Any Kincora inquiry 'must have full access'

A former Army officer has said any new investigation of the Kincora Boys' Home must have access to information from intelligence agencies.

Colin Wallace tried to draw attention to sexual abuse at the east Belfast home in the 1970s.

He said if the home is included in a UK-wide investigation into abuse, then the terms of any inquiry into what happened must be widened.

In 1981, three senior care staff at the home were jailed for abusing 11 boys.

It has been claimed that people of the "highest profile" were connected.

Mr Wallace received intelligence in 1973 to say that boys were being abused, but claims some of his superiors refused to pass on the information.

"I know that some officers from the security services in Northern Ireland did know and actually reprimanded intelligence officers from raising the matter and also told them they were to desist from any further investigation," he told the BBC's Sunday Sequence programme.

Mr Wallace said two previous inquiries which looked at Kincora - the Terry Inquiry and the Hughes Inquiry - did not examine evidence relating to the intelligence services.

"My evidence, and the evidence of other people, was ruled out, because those inquiries quite clearly, and indeed, we know now specifically and deliberately, ruled out the role of the intelligence services," he said.

"The evidence that I was willing to give to previous inquiries, from the Official Secrets point of view I couldn't do that because that was not within the terms of those inquiries.

"If there is going to be any way of moving this forward, the government - and David Cameron has said no stone will be unturned - must make sure that any information, held anywhere by any agency will be made available.

"But of course the problem is, I know from my own personal experience, that those files have long since disappeared."

'Truth may never be known'

Mr Wallace said he doubted the full truth would ever be known about Kincora.

"I don't want to be pessimistic and I genuinely hope that there will be a major effort now to bring closure, now that we know more about abuses on a national scale," he said.

"But I have to say, based on my own personal experience, I really doubt that very much (that the full truth will ever be known)."

Kincora victims, politicians, former police officers and campaign groups have all called for Kincora to be included in a UK-wide investigation into abuse.

The chair of Northern Ireland's Historical Instorical Abuse Inquiry, Sir Anthony Hart, has said it "does not have sufficient powers" to investigate some of the allegations relating to Kincora.

'Terrible abuses'

On Friday, NI First Minister Peter Robinson said the terms of reference for the UK's abuse inquiry should include Kincora.

"I want to see a full investigation into the terrible abuses which occurred in Kincora," he said.

"Having received this communication from Sir Anthony, it is clear that the proper route to fully investigate the abuse at Kincora Boys' Home is to have it included in our United Kingdom's Child Abuse Inquiry."

[Johnny Wadd]

'My father was a sexual predator like Jimmy Savile’ says son of former Tory MP

The son of a Conservative MP has built up his own dossier on his father and a wider circle of friends

The son of a former Conservative MP has told The Telegraph he believes his father was a “prolific sexual predator” who he fears might have been linked to an alleged Westminster paedophile ring.
Anthony Atkinson suspects his father David Atkinson’s name may also have been included in a notorious dossier compiled by his fellow Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens. The dossier, handed to the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan in the 1980s, has subsequently been lost or destroyed.

David Atkinson, according to his son, had a string of young lovers, among them a number of parliamentary assistants, with whom he conducted affairs behind the back of his wife and two children.
Justin Fashanu, the former professional footballer, who had grown up in a children’s home and subsequently committed suicide, had claimed to have had an affair with a married Conservative MP.
The MP is now thought to be Mr Atkinson. Letters from Mr Fashanu to Mr Atkinson, now in possession of his son, suggest the two men, although close, did not consummate their relationship.

Mr Atkinson eventually finally came out to his family as gay - after being confronted by his wife Susan - and before he died entered into a civil partnership in 2011.

His son has compiled a dossier of his own on his father. In it he writes: “In the research work that I have done... it is clear that my father was associated with some very dangerous people.”

Mr Atkinson, 37, an illustrator, decided to speak out after becoming increasingly concerned about his father’s behaviour and his wider circle of acquaintances. David Atkinson was MP for Bournemouth East for almost 28 years before stepping down in 2005. The father-of-two died in 2012 at the age of 71 having suffered from bowel cancer. His family learned after his death that he had also been diagnosed HIV positive.

There is evidence that the MP had been blackmailed by a member of staff within the Palace of Westminster who had threatened to sell details of his private life to a newspaper. In the letter, sent in 2003, the former friend of Mr Atkinson’s threatened to sell his story to the News of the World and added: “I want NO FURTHER CONTACT WITH YOU. SO DO NOT APPROACH ME PHYSICALLY or VERBALLY, now or in the future.”

On one occasion Anthony Atkinson was told by the relative of a teacher his father was a “paedophile” who had had an affair with a school pupil.

Mr Atkinson told The Telegraph: “What we have found shows my father to be a sad, lonely man but there is something more sinister there as well. I just want to try and work out what happened to my father.

“At the very least he is guilty of prolific predatory sexual behaviour. My father was predatory and prolific and we [my mother, my sister and I] all thought that the behaviour attributed to Jimmy Savile of being predatory and prolific also applied to him.”

When Tom Watson, the Labour MP, claimed in the House of Commons in October 2012 that 'a paedophile network’ may have existed in the past at a high level, protected by connections to Parliament, Anthony Atkinson and his mother Susan got in touch with the MP, suggesting their father might have been at the very least on the fringes of the group.

On one occasion Anthony Atkinson was told by a school friend that a teacher had claimed that the MP was a “paedophile”.

Mr Atkinson also discovered on the internet a claim made by a former American intern of improper conduct by the MP.

In the internet posting, the intern, a university student, wrote of being taken to dinner by Mr Atkinson on his last day working in the Commons as a thank you. “After dinner at a restaurant he insisted showing me his apartment,” wrote the intern, “As soon as I entered I got a suspicious feeling from all the little Greek statues around. Either he was a scholar in the classics (he wasn’t) or he had a real fascination with statues of Greek boys. Or he had a fascination with Greek. And boys.”

Once in the flat, the intern wrote: “It became apparent he was trying to get me drunk... I went to use the bathroom and when I came out he was standing is a short, girly, silk bathrobe. I looked past him and saw he had the lights low and the sheets of his double bed pulled back.”

The intern concluded: “It goes to show that politicians are politicians no matter what their nationality. In his case I’d keep children away from him though - I am not anti-gay at all, just anti pervert. And that, based on my experience and in my opinion, describes David Atkinson, MP.”

Other suspicions, which fuel Mr Atkinson’s concerns about his father, cannot be repeated in The Telegraph for legal reasons. There is nothing in the evidence so far gathered by Mr Atkinson that offers any clear proof that his father had had sex with under-age children.

Mr Atkinson did however take his concerns to the police on Mr Watson’s recommendations. Police interviewed his ex-wife as well but decided there was nothing further to investigate.

Mr Atkinson said: “Detectives spoke to us but they made it clear they were short-staffed and really because of the lack of resources they were only really interested in people still alive who they could prevent committing more crimes and that my dad was just somebody who was gay and was not comfortable with that and got himself into some scrapes.

“But I think my father got mixed up with the wrong people. I think he didn’t want anybody to find out he was gay and used that to influence him. He liked young men.”

He said his father kept 'meticulous’ notes of his every day activities in House of commons pocket diaries. Mr Atkinson does not have access to his father’s diaries.

“It is almost like my father became two people,” said Mr Atkinson, “There are times when I am upset when I think about my father but there are times when we just want to find out what happened. It’s duel thing. One the one hand he is my father and on the other I want to know what he did. If I don’t ever find out, I will always be asking.

“I can’t help but think everything going on is linked. I suspect my father is named in the Dickens’ dossier. Only the other day I found a photograph of my father with Geoffrey Dickens. Dickens once came to stay and he famously said that one of his friends is named in the dossier and that could be my dad. It is hard to reconcile all this with the father I grew up with.”

Mr Atkinson only discovered his father was gay when his parents got divorced. He was staying at his father’s flat and discovered gay pornography and sex toys hidden in a cupboard. “I remember asking him; 'are you gay?’ and he said: 'yes.’

“I said: 'how long have you known?’ and he said: 'I have always known, stupid.’ The he went back to reading his newspaper and that was the end of the discussion. I didn’t expect tears and hugs because that was not his way.”

[Johnny Wadd]

Rochdale abuse claims: Force refers itself to police watchdog

Police investigating sexual abuse allegations at a school in Rochdale have referred themselves to the independent police watchdog over the way they handled previous inquiries.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) are carrying out a criminal investigation into abuse claims at Knowl View school for boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

The allegations have been linked to the late MP Cyril Smith.

The past role of officers will now be scrutinised as part of the inquiry.

No-one charged
The move comes as a direct result of a book by current Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, which alleges a cover-up within Rochdale Council, and a failure by police.

Eighteen people have come forward with complaints related to abuse by adults and between the pupils at Knowl View, relating to a period between 1969 and 1990.

No-one has been charged over the alleged abuse, and Smith's family says he always denied the claims.

Assistant Chief Constable Ian Wiggett, of GMP, said the force had now referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

He said: "Following the publication of MP Simon Danzcuk's book, 'Smile for the Camera', GMP conducted an assessment of the allegations contained within that book. As a result of the assessment, GMP decided that a criminal investigation was required.

"The GMP investigation will now seek to identify whether any offences have been committed in the way that previous reports of abuse were handled or allegedly covered up.

"We are aware that some of the allegations relate to the past involvement of police officers, and therefore we have referred those matters to the IPCC. In addition, we have established an independent oversight panel to demonstrate the independence and rigour of the investigation that we will be conducting."

Rochdale Council has suspended its own internal investigation while the police inquiries continue.

[Johnny Wadd]

'Cover-up to protect politicians after abuse claims'

There was a cover-up to protect politicians' reputations following allegations of abuse at a children's home, it has been claimed.

Nigel Goldie, former assistant director of social services at Lambeth Council, said it appeared "high level decisions" were made not to explore allegations against public figures.

Mr Goldie told the BBC: "People were protecting one another."

The government is preparing an enquiry into historical abuse claims.

Lambeth Council said it would co-operate with the Home Office's reviews and police enquiries.

Speaking out
A former Labour councillor in Lambeth, Anna Tapsell, said she also thought allegations of child abuse had been covered up.

She said: "I think because some people become entrapped in knots not necessarily in abuse but in other forms of misconduct, including fraud, that then prevents them from speaking out when they suspect something."

Michael John Carroll ran the Angell Road children's home in Lambeth during the 1980s despite having been convicted of indecently assaulting a boy in the 1960s.

He was allowed to remain in his job at the home even after the council learned of his conviction.

He was later sentenced to 10 years for further abuses of children in 1999.

The police officer who began investigating allegations in Lambeth, Clive Driscoll, was taken off the case after he named political figures as potential suspects.

'Too uncomfortable'
Last week, he told the BBC he was removed from the investigation because it felt "too uncomfortable for a lot of people".

Mr Goldie was present when the officer named the politicians. He said: "It does seem that not only at the time but subsequently there were some high level decisions about not wanting to open up issues that related to public figures of whom there were suggestions that they had been visiting this children's home."

Police officers questioned Mr Goldie about what Mr Driscoll had said, shortly before he was removed from the case.

He was told not to tell anyone about their conversations.

Mr Goldie said: "The whole approach to making it clear, I shouldn't speak to anyone about what had happened, something that was now a closed book not to be further investigated, made me feel that there was a cover-up going on."

A previous Metropolitan police investigation into abuse in Lambeth resulted in three convictions.

The Met is now investigating fresh claims. Officers from its professional standards directorate have met Mr Driscoll to hear his allegations.

Plenty of noise but not much action