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This page is for the first 2 hearings below, with the main hearings
that ran for 2 weeks [10 working days] 4 -15 March 2019 and which start
up again on Mon 25 March 2019.
The Westminster strand of the Inquiry is to do with allegations of sexual abuse against children connected to the Houses of Parliament, or the Palace of Westminster as its also called.
Operation Fernbridge had many strands. Operation Fairbank was set up to review Operation Clarence [OC] 1988 - 1998
Peter McKelvie, former social worker thought that OC had not been investigated properly because of interference from prominent people.
That a paedophile ring based at Westminster: Peter Righton, Charles Napier, Peter Alston and Lord [John Henniker - Major] Henniker report from 1993 HERE
Links to Islington via the Islington/Suffolk project [Islington Post HERE]
Link to IICSA police report HERE
The Islington peadophile ring was exposed in 1992. Liz Davies also mentioned. No direct evidence that Henniker was abusing children.
The Obscene Publications squad [Mike Hames] was to investigate but apparently the investigation was stopped by higher up. MH had been put in charge of OC
Henniker was head of the British Council, he had used his influence to get teacher Charles Napier a teaching job abroad, despite being convicted of child abuse offenses. Confirmation that the BC gave him a job in Cairo 1992-4
Apparently Liz Davies was not aware of any allegations about the Islington/Suffolk project.
_________________________
The public hearings (with some excerpts provided) are below:
2018
31 Jan HERE
CP's: CPS, the Labour Party, Independent Office for Police Conduct [formerly the IPCC], Met Police, Wiltshire Police, the Home Office, a group of 7 complainants, Esther Baker and Tim Hulbert
page 8
" the allegations of a so-called Westminster paedophile ring whose activities were centred on Dolphin Square in London were a cause of very serious public concern. Since then, those allegations have been investigated by the Metropolitan Police under Operation Midland. As is well known, that investigation has now concluded with no charges being brought, and the police investigation itself has been the subject of a formal review by Sir Richard Henriques, who has published his conclusions. Given these developments, we submit that the public concern relating to those particular allegations has diminished considerably"
"However, those allegations were only one element of the public concern relating to Westminster institutions. Many other areas of concern remain. For example, did political parties turn a blind eye to allegations of child sexual abuse or attempt to cover them up, or, in the case of the Whips' Office, did they in fact try to turn such allegations to their advantage? Did members of the Westminster establishment seek to influence policing or prosecution decisions in cases of child sexual abuse?
page 19
"A central theme of many cases in this category is the suggestion that the police may have been prevented from investigating the conduct of senior politicians and other establishment figures. A number of retired police officers have claimed that they were indeed warned off investigating possible cases of child sexual abuse committed by senior politicians in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Several of these cases are linked to the Elm Guest House affair, which was itself the subject of investigation by the Metropolitan Police in its Operations Fairbank and Fernbridge." My emphasis and link added."
page 20
" other case that raises questions as to inappropriate political influence over police conduct arises from the well-publicised account that the journalist Don Hale has given of his office being raided by Special Branch officers who served, or at least purported to serve, a D-Notice on him and seized a dossier from him containing names of MPs said to be sympathetic to the Paedophile Information Exchange, a dossier that had apparently been given to Mr Hale by Barbara Castle MP. This case has also been the subject of an investigation by the IPCC."
page 23
"The fourth strand concerns the activities of the Whips' Offices of the various parties in parliament. Is it possible that on occasions in the past the Whips may have received allegations of child sexual abuse made against politicians in their own party and then failed to report those allegations or to take any other appropriate steps?"
page 25
" The sixth issue that we propose should be investigated relates to the Paedophile Information Exchange, commonly known as PIE. The key issues of public concern in relation to PIE are its membership, which appears to have included senior members of the Westminster establishment, and the suggestion that the organisation may have been funded by the government. These matters have already been the subject of a review commissioned by the Home Office and by a further independent review of that work by Peter Wanless and Richard Whittam QC. The original review found no evidence that PIE was funded by the Home Office's Voluntary Service Unit, VSU, and Wanless and Whittam subsequently found nothing in registered files or in testimony offered by contemporaries in and around the VSU ..."
30 Oct HERE
CP's:
CPS, the Labour Party, Independent Office for Police Conduct [formerly the IPCC], Met Police, Wiltshire Police, the Home Office, a group of 7 complainants, Esther Baker and Tim Hulbert
page 8
"The second point that I wish to make at this stage concerns certain matters that are expressly not within the scope of the investigation. The effect of our submissions at the last hearing was that neither the truth or otherwise of the allegations of child sexual abuse that have been made by the individual known as "Nick", nor the conduct of the police investigation into those allegations -- Operation Midland -- should form part of the inquiry's Westminster investigation. We made those submissions on a number of grounds, which I will not repeat now."
page 9
* "Nick" has now been charged with perverting the course of justice and fraud in relation to the allegations to which I have referred, and is currently on remand awaiting trial. It is plainly imperative that nothing that we do as part of this investigation prejudices in any way the fairness of those criminal proceedings"
page 11
"As I indicated at the last hearing, we have made disclosure requests to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. The primary purpose of these requests has been to establish whether those agencies hold documentation that is of relevance to issues relating to Westminster child abuse allegations."
page 31
" In giving your determination on scope dated 8 May 2018, you rejected Ms Baker's submissions and ruled that the inquiry would not investigate either the historic element of her allegations or the recent police investigation. Your reasons for reaching that decision are set out at paragraphs 3 to 8 of your determination,which, as I have said, can be found on the inquiry website. The application that is made today is on a narrower basis than Ms Baker's submissions earlier this year."
page 33
" Most simply, many of Ms Baker's allegations about institutional failings in recent years involve John Hemming, who is one of the men who she says abused her when she was a child. For this reason, we submit, it is unrealistic to think that this inquiry could investigate Ms Baker's allegations of recent police failings without hearing evidence on, and perhaps even having to make findings about, what happened to her as a child."
* The Trial of Carl Beech aka Nick HERE
Part Two HERE
The Westminster strand of the Inquiry is to do with allegations of sexual abuse against children connected to the Houses of Parliament, or the Palace of Westminster as its also called.
Operation Fernbridge had many strands. Operation Fairbank was set up to review Operation Clarence [OC] 1988 - 1998
Peter McKelvie, former social worker thought that OC had not been investigated properly because of interference from prominent people.
That a paedophile ring based at Westminster: Peter Righton, Charles Napier, Peter Alston and Lord [John Henniker - Major] Henniker report from 1993 HERE
Links to Islington via the Islington/Suffolk project [Islington Post HERE]
Link to IICSA police report HERE
The Islington peadophile ring was exposed in 1992. Liz Davies also mentioned. No direct evidence that Henniker was abusing children.
The Obscene Publications squad [Mike Hames] was to investigate but apparently the investigation was stopped by higher up. MH had been put in charge of OC
Henniker was head of the British Council, he had used his influence to get teacher Charles Napier a teaching job abroad, despite being convicted of child abuse offenses. Confirmation that the BC gave him a job in Cairo 1992-4
Apparently Liz Davies was not aware of any allegations about the Islington/Suffolk project.
_________________________
The public hearings (with some excerpts provided) are below:
2018
31 Jan HERE
CP's: CPS, the Labour Party, Independent Office for Police Conduct [formerly the IPCC], Met Police, Wiltshire Police, the Home Office, a group of 7 complainants, Esther Baker and Tim Hulbert
page 8
" the allegations of a so-called Westminster paedophile ring whose activities were centred on Dolphin Square in London were a cause of very serious public concern. Since then, those allegations have been investigated by the Metropolitan Police under Operation Midland. As is well known, that investigation has now concluded with no charges being brought, and the police investigation itself has been the subject of a formal review by Sir Richard Henriques, who has published his conclusions. Given these developments, we submit that the public concern relating to those particular allegations has diminished considerably"
"However, those allegations were only one element of the public concern relating to Westminster institutions. Many other areas of concern remain. For example, did political parties turn a blind eye to allegations of child sexual abuse or attempt to cover them up, or, in the case of the Whips' Office, did they in fact try to turn such allegations to their advantage? Did members of the Westminster establishment seek to influence policing or prosecution decisions in cases of child sexual abuse?
page 19
"A central theme of many cases in this category is the suggestion that the police may have been prevented from investigating the conduct of senior politicians and other establishment figures. A number of retired police officers have claimed that they were indeed warned off investigating possible cases of child sexual abuse committed by senior politicians in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Several of these cases are linked to the Elm Guest House affair, which was itself the subject of investigation by the Metropolitan Police in its Operations Fairbank and Fernbridge." My emphasis and link added."
page 20
" other case that raises questions as to inappropriate political influence over police conduct arises from the well-publicised account that the journalist Don Hale has given of his office being raided by Special Branch officers who served, or at least purported to serve, a D-Notice on him and seized a dossier from him containing names of MPs said to be sympathetic to the Paedophile Information Exchange, a dossier that had apparently been given to Mr Hale by Barbara Castle MP. This case has also been the subject of an investigation by the IPCC."
page 23
"The fourth strand concerns the activities of the Whips' Offices of the various parties in parliament. Is it possible that on occasions in the past the Whips may have received allegations of child sexual abuse made against politicians in their own party and then failed to report those allegations or to take any other appropriate steps?"
page 25
" The sixth issue that we propose should be investigated relates to the Paedophile Information Exchange, commonly known as PIE. The key issues of public concern in relation to PIE are its membership, which appears to have included senior members of the Westminster establishment, and the suggestion that the organisation may have been funded by the government. These matters have already been the subject of a review commissioned by the Home Office and by a further independent review of that work by Peter Wanless and Richard Whittam QC. The original review found no evidence that PIE was funded by the Home Office's Voluntary Service Unit, VSU, and Wanless and Whittam subsequently found nothing in registered files or in testimony offered by contemporaries in and around the VSU ..."
30 Oct HERE
CP's:
CPS, the Labour Party, Independent Office for Police Conduct [formerly the IPCC], Met Police, Wiltshire Police, the Home Office, a group of 7 complainants, Esther Baker and Tim Hulbert
page 8
"The second point that I wish to make at this stage concerns certain matters that are expressly not within the scope of the investigation. The effect of our submissions at the last hearing was that neither the truth or otherwise of the allegations of child sexual abuse that have been made by the individual known as "Nick", nor the conduct of the police investigation into those allegations -- Operation Midland -- should form part of the inquiry's Westminster investigation. We made those submissions on a number of grounds, which I will not repeat now."
page 9
* "Nick" has now been charged with perverting the course of justice and fraud in relation to the allegations to which I have referred, and is currently on remand awaiting trial. It is plainly imperative that nothing that we do as part of this investigation prejudices in any way the fairness of those criminal proceedings"
page 11
"As I indicated at the last hearing, we have made disclosure requests to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. The primary purpose of these requests has been to establish whether those agencies hold documentation that is of relevance to issues relating to Westminster child abuse allegations."
page 31
" In giving your determination on scope dated 8 May 2018, you rejected Ms Baker's submissions and ruled that the inquiry would not investigate either the historic element of her allegations or the recent police investigation. Your reasons for reaching that decision are set out at paragraphs 3 to 8 of your determination,which, as I have said, can be found on the inquiry website. The application that is made today is on a narrower basis than Ms Baker's submissions earlier this year."
page 33
" Most simply, many of Ms Baker's allegations about institutional failings in recent years involve John Hemming, who is one of the men who she says abused her when she was a child. For this reason, we submit, it is unrealistic to think that this inquiry could investigate Ms Baker's allegations of recent police failings without hearing evidence on, and perhaps even having to make findings about, what happened to her as a child."
* The Trial of Carl Beech aka Nick HERE
Part Two HERE
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