Child abuse dossier threatened to expose network of government paedophiles

Jul 04, 2014 08:48
By Chris Jones

Former Littleborough and Saddleworth MP Geoffrey Dickens handed the former Home Secretary Leon Brittan 'a bundle of papers' about the alleged child abuse ring in the early 1980s.

The former Home Secretary Lord Brittan

An explosive dossier which threatened to expose a vile paedophile network operating at the heart of government was created over 30 years by a pioneering former Rochdale MP, it has been revealed.

The papers, penned by former Littleborough and Saddleworth MP Geoffrey Dickens in the early 1980s, were passed to the then home secretary Leon Brittan, now Lord Brittan, to investigate.

Lord Brittan confirmed that Mr Dickens, who died in 1995, passed him ‘a substantial bundle of papers’ about the alleged child abuse ring.

He said he asked officials to look into the claims but ‘did not recall’ being contacted about the allegations again.

The Home Office said it had reviewed how it had dealt with the papers and concluded it had ‘acted appropriately’.

Despite the seriousness of the claims made in Mr Dicken’s dossier, Lord Brittan says the papers were not retained.

It comes after the current MP Simon Danczuk repeated Mr Dicken’s claims in a book about his predecessor Cyril Smith, whom he alleged was a serial child abuser protected from justice by a network of paedophiles at the heart of the government.

Speaking at a Home Affairs Select Committee hearing on Tuesday, he called on Lord Brittan to reveal what he knew about the Dickens dossier.

Lord Brittan said he believed he had acted ‘appropriately’.

He said: “I have been alerted to a Home Office independent review conducted last year into what information it received about organised child sex abuse between 1979 and 1999.

“The review found information had been dealt with properly.

“It also disclosed that material received from Mr Dickens in November 1983 and January 1984 had not been retained.

“However, a letter was sent from myself to Mr Dickens on March 20, 1984, explaining what had been done in relation to the files.

“Whilst I could not recall what further action was taken 30 years ago, the information contained in this report shows that appropriate action and follow-up happened.”

But Mr Danczuk said Lord Brittan had failed to do enough to expose the alleged child abuse network.

He said: “The job of the Home Secretary is to protect the country from criminals and paedophilia is one of the worst crimes imaginable.

“To hear a former home secretary dismiss evidence from Mr Dickens, a member of his own party who has a strong track record in campaigning on paedophilia, in such a casual, procedural manner is extremely worrying.

“Mr Dickens would no doubt have pressed upon Lord Brittan the seriousness and scale of organised paedophilia and everyone would expect a home secretary to show leadership when faced with such allegations, not just pass the dossier on and forget about it.”

Simon Danczuk

 A spokesperson for the Home Office confirmed they had reviewed how they had dealt with Mr Dicken’s dossier.

They said: “The review concluded the Home Office acted appropriately, referring information received during this period to the relevant authorities.”

In a separate development, the Crown Prosecution Service, has promised to release files detailing why they didn’t charge Cyril Smith with child abuse offences in the late 1990s, but said they needed to redact the documents first to protection the identities of victims.

It also emerged this week that Cyril Smith sent a letter to the BBC in 1976 saying he was ‘deeply concerned about the investigative activities of the BBC’ who were probing ‘the private lives of certain MPs’.

Cyril Smith threatened BBC over investigation into private lifes of MPs

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