Duke of Rutland puts further pressure on Cressida Dick over Operation Midland

The Duke of Rutland said he was shocked five officers involved have not faced disciplinary or criminal proceedings
Coronavirus - Wed Jan 13, 2021
The Duke of Rutland said he was shocked five officers involved in Operation Midland have not faced disciplinary or criminal proceedings.
PA

An aristocrat whose castle was raided during Scotland Yard’s disgraced VIP child sex abuse investigation today put further pressure on its chief Dame Cressida Dick.

The Duke of Rutland said he was shocked five officers involved in Operation Midland have not faced disciplinary or criminal proceedings.

Former High Court Sir Richard Henriques, who carried out a damning review into the inquiry, said the law had been broken to obtain search warrants.

Last week he wrote an open letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel calling for an outside force to investigate officers at the centre of the ‘Nick’ scandal and the police watchdogs who cleared them.

The Duke of Rutland, 61, added he is yet to receive an apology over the raid on Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire in March 2015.

Former home secretary Leon Brittan was among those falsely accused of being involved in a Westminster child abuse ring by fantasist Carl Beech – then known as “Nick”.

He died in January 2015 without knowing there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

His home was raided, along with those of D-Day veteran Lord Bramall and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, before it emerged all the claims were based on lies by Beech, who was jailed for 18 years in 2019 for perverting the course of justice.

Belvoir Castle was the home of Mr Proctor, the duke’s then-private secretary.

In his first statement, The Duke of Rutland told the Daily Mail: “There have been three occasions that Belvoir Castle has been invaded - in the Wars of the Roses, the 17th century Civil War and in March 2015 by the Metropolitan Police Service under Operation Midland.

“The search of my home in March 2015 has been proved to be illegal.

“It is time for the Metropolitan Police to assure me this will never happen to me or my family or to anyone else again.”

The Met insisted there was “no cover up” in the botched investigation after Ms Patel declined to express her confidence in Dame Cressida during a live interview on Friday morning.

Later, political aides maintained the Prime Minister and Home Secretary had “absolute confidence” in the UK’s most senior police officer.

Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House apologised again for failings made by the force.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct found no evidence of misconduct or criminality by officers.

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