UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Alan Travis, Rajeev Syal and Matthew Weaver
Tuesday 17 March 2015
Theresa May has said the claims a police investigation into the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith was scrapped, and corruption blocked other historic police operations into child abuse, were “shocking and could lead to criminal prosecutions”.
The Conservative home secretary also told a committee of MPs on Tuesday she hoped immunity from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act will be offered to former police officers and intelligence agents who are prepared to testify about allegations of paedophile rings and other child sex abuse to the police, or to the government’s separate public inquiry.
May was speaking after a Newsnight report on Monday that an ex-detective had claimed Smith was arrested in the early 1980s as part of an investigation into child-sex parties, but was released hours later.
Officers were ordered to hand over notebooks and video footage from their undercover operation, the BBC programme claimed, and were told they would be violating the Official Secrets Act if they revealed what had happened.
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