Police Arrest 67-Year-Old Man Following Investigation into Claims of a Paedophile Ring With Links to Prime Minister's Office in Downing Street, London, UK
- Suspect arrested in Dorset on suspicion of historical child abuse
- Arrest comes after investigation into child abuse linked to Whitehall
- Man has been released on bail until November after being questioned
- Follows claims by Labour MP that child abuse gang 'knew aide to ex-PM'
Daily Mail UK, 21 October 2014
A 67-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of historical child abuse following an investigation into claims of a paedophile ring with links to Downing Street.
The unnamed suspect was held in Dorset yesterday and questioned at a local police station before being released last night, Scotland Yard said.
The arrest was part of an inquiry named Operation Brancaster, which was set up after MP Tom Watson claimed there was a child abuse group which had with links to Number 10 Downing Street.
A man has been arrested by police investigating claims, raised by MP Tom Watson (pictured, right), that a paedophile ring had links to Number 10 Downing Street (left, file photo)
In 2012, he used Prime Minister's Questions to claim that a file of evidence used to convict a man called Peter Righton of importing child pornography in 1992 contained 'clear intelligence' of a paedophile gang.
He also claimed that a member of the group had bragged about links with a senior aide to a former Prime Minister.
Mr Watson wrote to Scotland Yard about the case, and the force later launched a number of separate criminal investigations after assessing the information.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said:
'A 67-year-old man has been arrested this morning, Tuesday, 14 October, at an address in Dorset on suspicion of historical child abuse offences.
'He was taken into custody locally and has now been released on police bail to a date in late November pending further inquiries.
'This arrest falls under a strand called Operation Brancaster, which was originally assessed as part of Operation Fairbank, and subsequently reached the criminal threshold.'
Scotland Yard say the man has now been bailed until late November while the investigation continues
RELATED:
660 Suspected Paedophiles Arrested in Massive Sting
By Sunday World
, 21 October 2014
Police have arrested the suspected paedophiles in Britain and Northern Ireland
A major sex crime crackdown has led to the arrest of 660 suspected paedophiles across Britain, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said.
The six-month operation targeted internet users who access child abuse images but has already led to charges for serious sexual assault.
Among the several hundred people arrested across
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are workers who had access to children through their jobs and had no previous contact with police.
The massive investigation, involving 45 police forces, led to hundreds of children being "safeguarded", the NCA said.
It stressed that none of those arrested is a serving or former MP or member of the Government.
The NCA said suspects include doctors, teachers, Scout leaders, care workers and former police officers. In total, only 39 registered sex offenders are among those arrested.
Officers have searched 833 properties and examined 9,172 computers, phones and hard drives.
The NCA said it built up "intelligence packages" on suspects and sent them to police forces across Britain.
NCA deputy director general Phil Gormley said the crackdown, the biggest ever operation of its kind, involved alleged paedophiles who used the so-called "dark web" as well as traditional internet access.
The "dark web" is internet content that is not listed by normal search engines. Users will often use payment methods such as virtual currencies to help avoid detection.
The 431 children who were safeguarded were in the "care, custody or control" of the suspects, and included 127 who were deemed to be at immediate risk of harm.
Mr Gormley said he was "profoundly disappointed" that so many suspects had been arrested over this type of crime, and said a harder look needs to be taken at the high numbers of people accessing child abuse images.
He said:
"The alternative is not to look under the stone, and we cannot afford not to look under this stone."
Claire Lilley, head of online safety at the NSPCC, said:
"This is an important two-pronged operation which has rescued children from abuse and also identified many previously unknown sex offenders. Direct action like this sends a strong message to those who subject children to harrowing sexual assaults that they can and will be traced and prosecuted.
"But law enforcement agencies alone cannot deal with the vast problem of illegal images which continue to flood the market. Industry has to find inventive ways of blocking the flow of such horrendous pictures which are only produced through the suffering of defenceless children - many of who are not even old enough to go to school.
"So while this operation must be rightly applauded we should view it as yet another warning sign that far more needs to be done if we are to stem the sordid trade in these images, which are often used by those who go on to abuse children."
END
Gangs of sex abusers targeting vulnerable children are...
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