Report to the Police: Possible misconduct in public office by Leon Brittan

In yesterday's press some attention was paid to a failure or refusal by the then Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, to investigate allegations of possible child sexual abuse at Buckingham Palace and/or Balmoral Castle.

See
VIP paedophile ring 'abused teenage boy INSIDE Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle

Having read the article I returned to the documents released by the Wanless/Whittam Review.

Annex E was of particular interest.

It seemed to me that in failing to pass to the Police the information suggestive of child sexual abuse at Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle that Leon Brittan was failing in his public duty.

Below is a letter of yesterday's date to Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service asking him to investigate whether Leon Brittan committed the common law offence of misconduct in public office.

30^th November 2014

To:

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service

Dear Commissioner,

Suspected misconduct in public office by

Leon Brittan while Home Secretary

I write to report to you as a constable the suspected common law of offence of misconduct in public office by Leon Brittan, now Lord Brittan of Spennithorne.

I refer you to reports in today’s press including an allegation that the former Home Secretary Leon Brittan refused to conduct an investigation into allegations of paedophilia with respect to a 16 year old boy formerly employed at Buckingham Palace.

I refer you this article which is online:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/vip-paedophile-ring-abused-teenage-4721479

The letter referred to in today’s media forms part of the documentation recently released as part of the Wanless/Whittam review.

See Annex E of the Wanless/Whittam Report. The letter from Mr. Brittan is at pages 25-26 of Annex E.

I understand that the 16 year old is named in an article on 15^th January 1984 in the News of the World. I do not name him in this letter since it is a public document.

Misconduct in Public Office

It seems to me that the failures on the part of Mr. Brittan satisfy the elements of the common law offence of Misconduct in Public Office as expressed in the Crown Prosecution Service guidance.

1. Was Mr. Brittan in public office? – Yes, he was Home Secretary
2. Was Mr. Brittan acting in his public office? – Yes, he wrote on Home Office paper and was writing in his role as Home Secretary
3. Was the failure wilful? – Given that Mr. Brittan writes to an MP about the case and provides a pretext (or explanation) for his failing to have the matter investigated it seems to me to be the case that his failure to refer the matter to the Police was wilful
4. Was there a reasonable excuse for his failure to refer the matter to the Police given that the allegations appear to involve unlawful sexual activity with a 16 year old? - Given that a criminal offence was alleged it seems to me that the Home Secretary’s clear duty was to refer that to the Police for investigation. I have given the matter careful thought and can identify no credible legitimate reason for Leon Brittan failing to refer the matter to the Police, given the Law as I understand it to have existed at the time in question.

At the present time, so far as I can establish, neither the minutes of the meeting of 23^rd November 1983 between Mr. Brittan and Mr. Geoffrey Dickens nor the subsequent letters are extant.

Distribution

This letter is a public document.

I anticipate placing a copy of it on my UK Child Abuse Inquiry blog:

http://ukchildabuseinquiry.blogspot.co.uk/

Actions requested of you

I ask that you assign a Crime Reference Number to the report of suspected crime and provide that crime reference number to me when you, or a colleague, replies.

I believe this is a matter of considerable potential public importance and interest. That being the case I will treat any reply from you or one of your colleagues as a public document.

Yours sincerely

(Dr) Andrew Watt

Request for Kerr Report into conduct of Lord Justice Fulford

Yesterday, I posted a copy of the Press Release from the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office regarding the investigation conducted by Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore into alleged past associations of Lord Justice Fulford with the Paedophile Information Exchange.

See
Lord Justice Fulford - Judicial Conduct Office's press statement on investigation by Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore

The press release is full of reassuring phrases but the evidence on which those reassuring phrases are built is not disclosed.

Below is a letter of yesterday's date requesting a copy of the Kerr Report and its associated documentation:

30^th November 2014

To:

Judicial Conduct Investigations Office

Dear Sir/Madam,

Report of the Investigation by Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore re

Lord Justice Fulford

I am grateful to Mr. Wood for sending me the press release that relates to Lord Kerr’s investigation into allegations made with respect to the past conduct of Lord Justice Fulford.

I write now to request a copy of the Report produced by Lord Kerr and the associated documentation.

Background: Kincora

Given the sensitivity of the matter of child abuse and the geographical association of Lord Kerr with the Kincora Boy’s Home I am sure you can understand why a wholly opaque process is far from satisfactory.

More specifically, I am aware that a former colleague of Lord Kerr’s is subject of investigation by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry chaired by Sir Anthony Hart.

There is therefore, in my estimation at least, an appearance of a potential conflict of interests on the part of Lord Kerr.

It seems to me that any such concerns may appropriately be resolved by public disclosure of Lord Kerr’s Report and the associated documentation.

Confidentiality: Consent of Lord Justice Fulford

I understand that Section 139 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 may apply to the Report. Accordingly I ask that the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office seek Lord Justice Fulford’s consent to disclosure of the Report.

Other consent to public disclosure

I cannot identify any other bar to disclosure in the 2005 Act or Rules.

However, should it be necessary for you to seek the consent of the Lord Chief Justice or the Lord Chancellor or both to public disclosure of the Kerr Report and  the associated documentation I ask that you do so.

Should you refuse to disclose the Kerr Report and its associated documentation I would be grateful for a clear statement of why, in the exceptional circumstances which apply, you consider refusal to be an appropriate and defensible course of action. As I say, I have been unable to identify any bar to publication in the 2005 Act or the Rules.

Should a refusal regarding disclosure come from Lord Justice Fulford, the Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Chancellor or more than one of them I would be grateful for a clear statement whose refusal applies.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours sincerely

(Dr) Andrew Watt

Lord Justice Fulford - Judicial Conduct Office's press statement on investigation by Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore

Below I've posted for information a press statement of 18th June 2014 regarding an investigation carried out by Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore into allegations regarding past associations between Lord Justice Fulford and the Paedophile Information Exchange.

The press statement is no longer, so far as I can find. on the Judicial Conduct Office's website.

Press statement

The investigation by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office into Lord Justice Fulford (Sir Adrian Fulford) has concluded. All complaints against him have been dismissed by the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor who have agreed that there is no evidence to support the allegations of misconduct or to undermine his position as a judicial office holder.

Following allegations in the Mail on Sunday, repeated by other media outlets, that Sir Adrian supported an organisation known as Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE)in the late 1970s while a volunteer at the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, a Justice of the Supreme Court and former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, was appointed to carry out a full and independent judicial investigation in accordance with Part 5 of the Judicial Conduct (Judicial and other office holders) Rules 2013.

Lord Kerr considered a number of documents, including those which had been referred to in media reports. He also conducted two lengthy interviews with Sir Adrian in which the allegations which had been made in the newspapers and other outlets were scrupulously examined. Searching questions were put to and responded to by Sir Adrian. He was closely questioned about his involvement with the NCCL and about that organisation’s association with PIE. Sir Adrian was also questioned about his authorship of an article which had been referred to in the press reports.

Having conducted a challenging and interrogative inquiry, Lord Kerr concluded that the allegation that Sir Adrian had been a supporter of the PIE was without substance.On the evidence that had been presented and on the basis of the interviews which he had conducted, Lord Kerr concluded that Sir Adrian was not and had never been a supporter of PIE or its aims. Further there was no reason for Sir Adrian to have disclosed his association with the NCCL on appointment to judicial office.

As part of the judicial investigation Lord Kerr considered a number of judgments referred to by the Mail on Sunday in which Sir Adrian had been involved since his appointment to the High Court bench and which concerned sexual crimes. He also examined summaries of all cases of a sexual nature in which the victim had been less than 21 years old and in which Sir Adrian had sat as a member of the Court of Appeal. He found nothing in the least untoward about any of the decisions that had been reached.

Sir Adrian has voluntarily refrained from sitting in criminal proceedings pending the outcome of this investigation. Having been fully exonerated, he will now resume sitting in all jurisdictions.

Response from North Yorkshire Police re my concerns re former Archbishop of York, David Hope

On 26th October I wrote to the Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police asking that he consider whether the former Archbishop of York, David Hope should be investigated with respect to suspected misconduct in public office.

The suspected offence related to perceived failures by Mr. Hope with respect to child abuse by the late Robert Waddington.

See
Report to North Yorkshire Police regarding David Michael Hope, former Archbishop of York

I have now received a reply from Detective Superintendent Nigel Costello of North Yorkshire Police dated 24th November 2014.

Detective Superintendent Costello wrote:

"I am writing this brief letter to inform you that your allegation has been forwarded to myself to deal with. I will be in touch further once I have answers to the relevant enquiries I have raised to try and resolve the matter."

I await with interest further correspondence from Detective Superintendent Costello.

Report to Greater Manchester Police - suspected misconduct in public office by Right Revd. Nigel McCulloch, former Bishop of Manchester

A few weeks ago I wrote to North Yorkshire Police regarding my suspicions that David Hope, the former Archbishop of York had committed the common law offence of misconduct in public office with respect to concealment of alleged child abuse by Robert Waddington.

See
Report to North Yorkshire Police regarding David Michael Hope, former Archbishop of York

Today I wrote to Sir Peter Fahy of Greater Manchester Police regarding my suspicion that Nigel McCulloch, former Bishop of Manchester may also have committed the offence of misconduct in public office.

My letter to Greater Manchester Police is below:

30^th November 2014

Sir Peter Fahy, Greater Manchester Police

Dear Chief Constable,

Possible misconduct in public office: Right Revd Nigel McCulloch

I write to report to you as a constable my suspicion that the Right Revd Nigel McCulloch may have comitted the common law offence of Misconduct in Public Office.

My concerns relate to the actions and/or failures to act of Mr. McCulloch while he was Bishop of Manchester in relation to alleged child abuse by Robert Waddington.

I have given such consideration as I presently can to whether Mr. McCulloch’s actions and/or failures to act correspond to the Crown Prosecution Service guidance with respect to Misconduct in Public Office.

With respect to the elements of the offence listed by the Crown Prosecution Service my assessment is as follows:

• Was Mr McCulloch in a public office? Yes, Bishop of Manchester
• Were the suspected failings by Mr. McCulloch failures in his office? Yes, I understand that as Bishop of Manchester he failed to report to the Police suspected child abuse by Robert Waddington
• Were the suspected failings wilful? They appear to have been so, reportedly in deference to comparable (or more serious) failings by the then Archbishop of York, David Hope
• Was there reasonable excuse for the suspected failings by Mr. McCulloch? That is a matter which it is difficult for me to comment on directly save to say that deference to a senior clergyman seems to me to be a wholly inadequate basis on which to, in effect, conceal suspected child abuse.

It therefore seems to me that there is a prima facie case that Mr. McCulloch may have committed the common law offence of Misconduct in Public Office.

I ask that you record this report of suspected crime in accordance with the applicable National Guidance and that you allocate a Crime Reference Number to this report.

You may wish to be aware that I have separately reported suspected Misconduct in Public Office by the then Archbishop of York, David Hope.

For refererence my letter of 26^th October 2014 to North Yorkshire Police is online here:

http://ukchildabuseinquiry.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/report-to-north-yorkshire-police.html

I have received a response from Detective Superintendent Nigel Costello of North Yorkshire Police indicating that he has instituted relevant inquiries.

Distribution

This letter is a public document.

I will place a copy of it on my UK Child Abuse Inquiry blog:

http://ukchildabuseinquiry.blogspot.co.uk/

Actions requested of you

I ask that you record this report of suspected crime and issue a Crime Reference Number.

I also ask that you promptly acknowledge receipt of this letter and inform me of the allocated Crime Reference Number.

In due course I would be grateful if you would inform me of what action you have taken in response to this letter.

Thank you

Yours sincerely

(Dr) Andrew Watt