4 2GM Thursday August 6 2020 | the times
News
Senior police officers have stood by the
policy automatically to believe alleged
victims of abuse in new national advice,
despite inquiries in which fantasists
were trusted and reputations traduced.
Detectives investigating historical
allegations of child abuse will be told
that “the intention is that victims are
believed”. The College of Policing gui-
dance, to be published today, emphasis-
es that “those reporting crimes will be
treated with empathy and their allega-
tions will be taken seriously”.
Automatic belief has been highly con-
troversial since detectives in Scotland
Yard’s Operation Midland were taken in
by a fantasist known as Nick and his
false claims of a Westminster abuse ring.
The new guidelines have been under
consideration for nearly four years
since the retired judge Sir Richard Hen-
riques reviewed Operation Midland
and recommended that the belief
Officers told to believe sex abuse
claims despite fantasist scandal
instruction be withdrawn as it under-
mined the principle that a suspect is in-
nocent until proven guilty.
Sir Richard expressed disappoint-
ment yesterday that his recommend-
ation had not been adopted in the new
advice for senior investigating officers,
produced by the college in conjunction
with Operation Hydrant, the unit
that co-ordinates non-recent abuse
inquiries.
He said: “They’ve learnt nothing at
all from Nick. The whole basis of their
explanation for believing Nick is that
they were driven to believe by the pro-
tocol that was in existence.”
However, Simon Bailey, who leads
the work of the National Police Chiefs
Council on child protection and abuse
investigations, and oversees Hydrant,
said that the notion that police applied
“blind belief” was wrong.
He said: “This is not a construct of
policing. Victims are constantly told by
those people who abuse them thatthere’s no point coming forward
because they’re not going to believed.
“The evidence is so strong that vic-
tims need to know they are going to be
believed when they make their disclo-
sures. Afterwards the allegations are
investigated without fear or favour.”
Operation Midland detectives de-
scribed Nick, later unveiled as Carl
Beech and convicted of perverting the
course of justice, as “credible and true”.
Mr Bailey, chief constable of Norfolk,
said: “We shouldn’t allow one investi-
gation to be the basis upon which we
ignore a substantial body of evidence
that talks about the importance of
being believed.”
Dave Tucker, head of crime at the
college, said belief applied at the point
of recording a crime but that it was “not
enduring and unquestioning” and a fair
and impartial inquiry would follow.
The new guidance also warns detect-
ives not to go “trawling” for victims of
abuse and urges them instead to use in-telligence and investigative techniques
to approach specific groups of people.
In 2015 a senior Wiltshire police
officer stood outside the late Edward
Heath’s home in Salisbury to announce
an investigation into paedophile
claims. He urged people to come for-
ward if they had been abused by the
politician.
The force said later that Heath, who
died in 2005, would have been inter-
viewed under caution over seven
assault and rape allegations relating to
adults and children. However, concerns
emerged about the reliability of com-
plainants and there were claims that
the inquiry was one-sided.
The new advice says that when re-
leasing information about a dead sus-
pect it is “important to make clear that
the police are making no judgments
about guilt, that the suspect is consid-
ered innocent unless proved guilty and
that the person concerned is not able to
defend her/himself”.Fiona Hamilton Crime Editor
The widow of a police officer dragged to
his death behind a getaway car has
called for the killers of emergency
services workers to serve life in jail.
Lissie Harper said that “Andrew’s
law” would mean those convicted of
causing the death of police, fire or
emergency medical workers would
spend their lives in prison.
PC Andrew Harper, 28, was killed
when his foot became trapped in a strap
used by three teenagers to steal a quad
Boy hit by cars on M
A teenager is in hospital with
severe injuries after he was hit by
several cars as he was walking on
the M5 near Oldbury in the West
Midlands. He was taken to
hospital after being given
treatment by a doctor who
arrived in an air ambulance.
Police said that they were trying
to establish how he had come to
be on foot on the carriageway.Alert over fake drugs
A national alert has been issued
after an influx of illicit
prescription drugs linked to 12
cases of hospital admissions and
deaths. Tablets were being sold as
benzodiazepines, such as Xanax
and diazepam, used to treat
anxiety or insomnia. Public
Health England said that the
“street benzos” were often blue
and stained the mouth.Doctors ‘left struggling’
“Sexist and ageist” views have led
to female doctors struggling with
the menopause without support,
a British Medical Association
report suggests. Female doctors
had cut their hours and quit jobs
as a result, with some saying that
they would be “ridiculed” if they
spoke about it. The union called
for more open discussions and
flexible working arrangements.Bassey’s back on track
Dame Shirley Bassey is to release
an album to mark 70 years in
showbusiness. The album, being
billed as a grand finale, will
include old tracks and new songs
written for her. Bassey, 83,
performed in pubs and clubs in
Wales while working in a factory
and had her first No 1, As I Love
Yo u, in 1959. She recorded three
James Bond film theme songs.Immigration talks
The immigration minister held
talks with French officials after a
surge in the number of migrants
crossing the Channel. Chris Philp
urged France to do more to stop
boats leaving its shores yesterday
as a further 15 migrants were
intercepted in the water. More
than 3,600 migrants have
crossed the Channel this year
so far, putting a strain on
relations with France. Priti Patel,
the home secretary, is hoping to
hold talks with her French
counterpart soon.A A A B B D E E
E G G G H K L L
N O O O P R R R
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letter underneath once only1 Ovum ( 3 )2 Snare ( 4 )3 Set of data in rows and columns ( 5 )4 Preparation (10)5 Non-ordained abbey member (3,7)Quintagram® No 76 1
Solutions MindGames in Times
Cryptic clues every day onlinePolice widow wants life for killers of 999 workers
bike in Berkshire last August. The three
were cleared of murder but convicted of
manslaughter at the Old Bailey.
Henry Long, 19, the driver, was jailed
last week for 16 years and told that he
would not be considered for release
until he had served ten years and eight
months. Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers,
both 18, who were passengers, were sent
to a young offender institution for 13
years and will have to serve two thirds
of their sentence. Suella Braverman,
the attorney-general, said on Tuesday
that she would review the jail terms.Ms Harper, 29, said: “I pledge to my
late husband to never stop until I have
made the difference that this country
clearly needs.
“As a widow of a police officer — a
title in which I would give everything to
not have — I have witnessed first-hand
the lenient and insufficient way in
which the justice system deals with
criminals who take the lives of our
emergency workers.”
She said that “Andrew’s law” would
mean that those who “have to go
through what I have been through inthe future get the justice they rightly
deserve”.
Ms Harper, who had been married to
the Thames Valley police officer for
four weeks, said that she would call for
the law during meetings with Boris
Johnson and Priti Patel, the home sec-
retary. Her campaign is being backed by
the Police Federation of England and
Wales. Debbie Adlam, PC Harper’s
mother, is calling for a mandatory 20-
year minimum prison term for killers of
police officers, which she also calls
Andrew’s law.David Brown
EUROPEAN SPORTS PHOTO AGENCY/ALAMY LIVE NEWSOn the bright side The August full moon over Glastonbury in Somerset, known as the sturgeon moon to Native Americans because of the bountiful fishing it heralds