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Leon Brittan homes raided in VIP paedophile child abuse probe six weeks after Tory Lord's death
By Keir Mudie, Mark Watts
Cops have raided Tory Lord Leon Brittan’s homes over alleged child abuse – just SIX weeks after he died. Detectives swooped on the former Home Secretary’s properties in London and North Yorkshire, the Sunday Mirror and news investigators Exaro can reveal And in a dramatic development officers from Operation Midland – set up to investigate historic claims of child abuse by a group of powerful men – also searched the home of 91-year-old D-Day veteran Lord Bramall, once Britain’s highest-ranking Army officer. The four raids were carried out at dawn on Wednesday at the same time officers swooped on the home of former Tory MP Harvey Proctor , 68. Sources say the they were signed off by a “senior figure” in the Operation Midland team. No arrests were made and there is no indication either Mr Proctor or Baron Bramall will have to give formal statements. It is unclear why Lord Bramall is of interest to the officers or why his home is connected to the inquiry. Police have refused to elaborate on the reason behind the search of his property. A source close to the investigation said: “To carry out four simultaneous searches on a scale like this is a major work. "They are acting on information but at this stage are not prepared to give any explanation. “They are examining multiple leads. It’s fair to say they are being very thorough. They will go wherever the evidence might lead them.” A team of 20 detectives including forensic officers were involved in the four raids. Two of their targets were Lord Brittan’s family house in Pimlico, London, and his country home near the village of Spennithorne in Wensleydale, North Yorks. It lies in the Richmond constituency he served as an MP. A separate police team swooped on the home of Lord Edwin Bramall in an affluent area of Surrey near the Army town of Aldershot. At the same time, police visited Mr Proctor’s home on the 16,000-acre grounds of Belvoir Castle, near Grantham, Lincs, where he works as private secretary to the Duke of Rutland. A Met Police spokesman confirmed searches had been carried out yet declined to give any further information. But on Wednesday Mr Proctor held a hastily arranged press conference where he denied allegations of being part of a “rent-boy ring” or attending sex parties. He later added he would like to be interviewed by police at “the earliest opportunity”. Mr Proctor said: “I have not been part of any rent boy ring with Cabinet ministers, other MPs or generals or the military. I conducted my private life in a discreet manner. “The police have said they’re investigating historical sex abuse allegations going back to the 1970s and the 1980s.” At the same time the police were carrying out the raid on Mr Proctor’s address, another team was searching the home of Eton-educated Lord Bramall in Crondall, near Farnham, Surrey. He has a distinguished military career and is one of the country’s most decorated veterans. He took part in the 1944 Normandy landings, won the Military Cross and was Chief of the General Staff during the Falklands War. A woman who answered the door at his home said they would not be making any comment. Julian Badgery, landlord of the Plume of Feathers pub in the village, confirmed police were at the property. He said: “They arrived in the morning and were there pretty much all day. There were lots of them. “They weren’t wearing uniforms and none of their cars were marked. The drive of the house was full of vehicles. "They kept coming in and out and were always on their mobile phones.” A witness known as ‘Nick’ came forward last year to allege Lord Brittan had been present at VIP child sex parties.
But Lord Brittan’s name was only made public after he died of cancer in January, aged 75. After his death, many of his Nick was asked how he knew the man present was the former Home Secretary and replied: “Well, he told me. Not his full name. He told me that it was Leon.” But former Tory leader Michael Howard said: “I think it is a tragedy that his last days were dogged by these quite unsubstantiated allegations.” And another ex-Cabinet minister John Gummer, now Lord Deben, said claims were “wicked”. Lord Brittan had always denied any allegations of wrongdoing, but Nick stands by his testimony. Police are also examining claims based on Nick’s evidence that Lord Brittan was present when two unidentified men murdered a boy in a physical beating following sexual abuse around 1981 or 1982.
Det Supt Kenny McDonald, who is overseeing Operation Midland, said officers who had spoken to Nick thought his account was “credible”. During a press conference in December, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse said police were examining whether children were abused at a number of locations, including the South East and London. Operation Midland was set up to look at claims boys were abused by senior figures in the 70s and 80s. But last year it was confirmed the operation had become a homicide investigation exploring links between abuse and the alleged deaths of three boys. Until the raids were carried out this week Operation Midland had focused on properties in London including apartments at Dolphin Square, Pimlico, where child sex parties are said to have taken place. Last June, it emerged Lord Brittan had been interviewed in connection with rape allegations involving a 19-year-old student at his London flat in 1967. In a statement he said: “This allegation is wholly without foundation”. In 1984, he was handed a dossier by campaigning MP Geoffrey Dickens. It was said to contain allegations of an Establishment paedophile ring operating in Westminster in the 1980s. Home Office staff confirmed the files were later lost.
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