Met Police investigating Savile prepare to examine files into historic claims a Downing Street aide had links to a paedophile network
- Labour MP Tom Watson alleged intelligence links child sex offenders to ex-Number 10 aide
- Claimed police may hold evidence and urged David Cameron to investigate
- PM says he's 'not sure which former prime minister Watson is referring to'
Scotland Yard is preparing to examine claims a powerful paedophile network may have had links to Downing Street and a former prime minister.
Labour MP Tom Watson shocked the Commons yesterday by alleging there was ‘clear intelligence’ linking a former Number 10 aide with a notorious group of sex offenders.
He has compiled a dossier allegations for the Metropolitan Police, which is currently dealing with hundreds of allegations of abuse against Jimmy Savile.
Call for probe: Labour MP Tom Watson shocked the Commons by alleging there was 'clear intelligence' linking a former Number 10 aide with a notorious group of sex offenders
Scotland Yard today said the number of the broadcaster's victims was 'fast approaching' 300, with 400 separate lines of inquiry.
Meanwhile 160 people alone have complained of abuse to the NSPCC since the scale of Savile's paedophilia was revealed.
But the scandal was widened yesterday when Mr Watson suggested a Number 10 insider was named in files connected to the conviction of a child porn smuggler in the early 1990s.
Writing on his blog Mr Watson said: 'I have no doubt the Met will take this seriously.'
He said he has written to Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe with more details of the case, which he said would 'obviously remain confidential'.
Mr Watson said there was a trail between the evidence used to convict a child abuser called Peter Righton in 1992, and No 10.
He told the Commons: ‘The evidence used to convict paedophile Peter Righton, if it still exists, contains clear intelligence of a widespread paedophile ring.
‘One of its members boasts of his links to a senior aide of a former prime minister who says he could smuggle indecent images of children from abroad.
‘The leads were not followed up, but if the file still exists I want to ensure that the Metropolitan Police secure the evidence, re-examine it and investigate clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No 10.’
Mr Cameron said Mr Watson ‘raises a very difficult and complex case’ and he was ‘not entirely sure which former prime minister he is referring to’.
But he agreed to look at the case ‘very carefully and see what the Government can do’ to give Mr Watson the assurances he wanted.
Prime Minister: David Cameron said Mr Watson 'raises a very difficult and complex case' and he was 'not entirely sure which former prime minister he is referring to'
On Sunday, former Conservative minister Edwina Currie claimed Sir Peter Morrison, a leading Tory MP during Lady Thatcher’s era, had sex with underage boys.
'The evidence used to convict paedophile Peter Righton, if it still exists, contains clear intelligence of a widespread paedophile ring'
Labour MP Tom Watson
In the Sunday Times she claimed she heard that Sir Peter, who was Mrs Thatcher’s parliamentary private secretary and deputy chairman of the party, had sex with 16-year-old boys when the age of consent was 21. Sir Peter died aged 51 in 1995.
However yesterday afternoon Mr Watson wrote on his blog: ‘I am not naming the person for obvious reasons but for clarity it is not former MP Peter Morrison.
‘This afternoon my office has been bombarded with calls regarding Morrison, I think because he was named by Edwina Currie at the weekend as having inappropriate sexual relations with teenage boys.’
Query: On Tuesday MP Steve Rotheram publicly questioned whether 'high-ranking politicians and/or their advisers' were involved in child abuse
Mr Watson said he had decided to speak out after being contacted by ‘a former child protection specialist’ who had harboured concerns for years that the Righton case was never properly explored.
'The leads were not followed up, but if the file still exists I want to ensure that the Metropolitan Police secure the evidence, re-examine it and investigate clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No 10'
Labour MP Tom Watson
He said: ‘The central allegation was that a large body of material had not been fully investigated.
‘Within the material...were letters from known and convicted paedophiles. The contact, who has seen the letters, claimed one paedophile in particular was of great concern.
‘He said the paedophile, who worked with children, boasted of a key aide to a former PM who could help get hold of indecent images of children.’
On Tuesday MP Steve Rotheram publicly questioned whether ‘high-ranking politicians and/or their advisers’ were involved in child abuse.