BBC criticised over child abuse Panorama programme
Share:
The police have criticised the BBC’s Panorama team after a programme on child sexual abuse was aired.
The Metropolitan Police have criticised the long-running investigative programme for broadcasting the feature which concerned allegations against VIPs, in particular former Home Secretary Leon Brittan.
The BBC says that the piece was “important and fair investigative journalism” that “rightly asks legitimate questions about the conduct of the police”, but Scotland Yard says that it has “serious concerns” about its impact upon witnesses and victims.
In the programme, a man who has made allegations about various public figures said that two campaigners may have led him into making the allegations. The man, who Panorama referred to as ‘Dave’, said that he “went along with” a number of names which were suggested “as jokes” including the late Lord Brittan, who died in January.
The police are concerned that media coverage may affect investigations as part of Operation Midland, the enquiry into the possible murders of three boys by a paedophile ring operating in Westminster and Pimlico. ‘The Westminster Paedophile Ring’, which is believed to have counted senior MPs, police officers, judges, pop stars and other public figures amongst its number, operated throughout the 1970s and 1980s. However, many believe that the complaints made by Scotland Yard against media intervention in the enquiry is in preparation for closing the investigation after doubts were raised over the claims of the sole anonymous witness.
Lord Brittan, who was Home Secretary from 1983 to 1985, was thrown back into the headlines last year after various allegations were made about him in connection with a woman who was raped in 1967, as well as failing to act when passed a dossier by Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens concerning sexual abuse in Westminster. He was questioned by police over the former offence but said he was “wholly without charge”.
The Metropolitan Police have also accused the police of “compromising an evidential chain” should a case ever come to court by showing pictures to a key witness called Nick. Since the emergence of abuse claims against the late Jimmy Savile in 2012, the police have reported a “significant increase” in people coming forward about similar offences.