Misconduct lawsuits towards VIP abuse inquiry officer dropped

Gross misconduct lawsuits were withdrawn towards a former Met Police officer who led an inquiry into what became out to be false intercourse abuse allegations towards a string of high-profile figures.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) stated it had stopped its investigation into Steve Rodhouse after a “large volume of relevant material was recently disclosed” to it through the Met Police.

He confronted allegations round feedback made to the media in March 2016 relating to his ideals concerning the honesty of 2 witnesses within the investigation.

In a commentary, Mr Rodhouse stated the allegations have been “ill-founded and incorrect”, including that whilst he welcomed the verdict he was once “yet to receive an adequate explanation as to how this debacle occurred”.

He led Operation Midland, which investigated false claims that MPs and generals – together with former house secretary Lord Brittan, D-Day Veteran Lord Bramall, and ex-Conservative MP Harvey Proctor – had abused and murdered kids.

The operation was once in large part in line with claims made through Carl Beech, who was once jailed in 2019 for making false allegations.

Mr Rodhouse was once because of face a disciplinary listening to for probably breaching police skilled requirements of behaviour for honesty and integrity and discreditable behavior.

The former Met deputy assistant commissioner was once additionally speculated to have therefore made remarks to former High Court pass judgement on Sir Richard Henriques, who have been commissioned to hold out an impartial assessment of the dealing with of the operation in August 2016.

Beech was once sentenced to 18 years in jail for 12 counts of perverting the process justice, certainly one of fraud, and for a number of kid sexual offences after a damning assessment through Sir Richard really helpful he be investigated through any other police power.

But the BBC printed in 2019 that two different complainants who had made false claims weren’t referred through the Met for investigation, regardless of Sir Richard recommending they will have to be.

The investigation through the IOPC associated with an alleged distinction between Mr Rodhouse’s personal and public positions.

It was once claimed Mr Rodhouse instructed Sir Richard in a non-public presentation in 2016 that he was once “satisfied” the opposite two complainants had “told deliberate lies”. Mr Rodhouse disputes that declare.

When Operation Midland had closed months previous and not using a arrests or fees, Scotland Yard issued a public commentary to the media that stated detectives had “not found evidence to prove that they were knowingly misled by a complainant”.

New subject matter introduced to the IOPC through the Met Police resulted in the investigation being closed.

The police watchdog stated there was once “no evidence” inside the recent subject matter that there was once “any inappropriate motivation in Mr Rodhouse’s comments to the media” or which “supports that he made those remarks during Sir Richard’s review”.

It stated there was once “substantial evidence to indicate” feedback made to the media have been “the result of collaboration between senior Met officers and staff”.

The police watchdog added that there had additionally been “appropriate considerations, including a desire not to discourage victims of historic sex offences coming forward”.

Mr Proctor stated he was once the complainant within the scrapped gross misconduct lawsuits towards Mr Rodhouse.

He labelled the IOPC’s resolution to not continue as “disgraceful” and stated it was once an “insult to victims of false allegations and a betrayal of the public’s trust”.

He added: “For Mr Rodhouse to claim he acted with ‘honesty, integrity and care’ in Operation Midland is as grotesque as it is offensive.”

Speaking concerning the operation, the previous MP stated that “innocent men, including myself, had our reputations shredded, homes raided, and lives wrecked based on obvious falsehoods”.

“I will never get over what was done to me,” he stated. “Operation Midland is not history to me – it lives with me every hour of every day.”

Mr Rodhouse, who’s now a director on the National Crime Agency, stated he was once “pleased” the IOPC had “recognised that I acted with honesty, integrity and care throughout a difficult investigation”.

He stated cops “must have confidence that any complaints about their conduct will be competently investigated in a balanced and timely fashion”, including “I now look forward to resuming my career investigating and prosecuting serious criminals.”

IOPC Director Amanda Rowe stated its resolution on Thursday “does not change our finding that by failing to follow Sir Richard’s recommendation in his review to investigate the witnesses, the Met’s service was unacceptable”.

She stated: “Its subsequent reviews concluding no investigation was needed were flawed”, including, “we apologise to all of those affected and we are working with the force to establish exactly how and why this situation has occurred, and to reduce the risk of it happening again.”

Ms Rowe stated the police watchdog had reported a “potential crime” to the Met all over its investigation, which was once being “actively investigated by another force”.