UNITED KINGDOM
Anadolu Agency
By Karim Adel El-Sayed
ANKARA
Enoch Powell, one of the most controversial British politicians of the twentieth century, has been implicated of involvement in child sex abuse dating back to the 1980s, the British press has reported.
Powell’s name was handed to police in 2014 by Bishop of Durham Paul Butler, an event which was only made public on Sunday.
“The name Enoch Powell was passed to Operation Fernbridge on the instruction of Bishop Paul Butler,” the Church of England said in a statement on Monday, referring to the police operation into suspected Westminster child abusers.
Powell, who died in 1998, was a divisive and firebrand anti-immigrant politician. His name is the latest in a string of senior parliamentarians accused of being involved in alleged Westminster child sex rings in the 1980s.
The scandal has shaken Britain’s political establishment to its core. …
Nothing would surprise me in terms of cover-ups or files being destroyed or lost. It stinks, I have to say,” says Peter Saunders, CEO of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, speaking to The Anadolu Agency.
Commenting more specifically on the accusation leveled against the deceased anti-immigrant firebrand, Saunders adds: “Powell’s been dead a long time and I have not heard his name being implicated before, but anybody who is implicated and who does have a credible allegation made against them – whether they are alive or dead – I think they should be investigated to the full extent of the law.”
With regards to Heffer’s argument that Powell was a man of high probity, Saunders said, “Many child abusers throughout our history have been upstanding members of the community and they have a dark side… I am not saying that is the case with Powell, because I do not know.”
“I think any credible accusation should be pursued and investigated for the purposes of both the victims and for future child protection because this issue of abuse of children has been swept under the carpet, has been kept at bay, has been denied for far too long,” he said.
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