The Met have found no evidence for an abuse network linked to No10. It’s time they admitted it

Almost exactly three years ago, Tom Watson stood up in parliament and demanded the Metropolitan police investigate ‘clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No. 10’. It was an incendiary claim which, because it was made during Prime Minister’s Questions and broadcast on live television, set hares running on social media and beyond.

We know, now, that the police found no evidence to support an allegation of rape made against Leon Brittan by a woman known as ‘Jane’. But the question remains: what about that link to No. 10?

I have spent much of the past three years looking into this. Working for BBC Panorama means following the evidence — no matter how tough and painful the process.

One thing was clear straight away: the voices of the genuine survivors of childhood sexual abuse need to be properly heard. But the more I investigated the supposed VIP abuse network, the less I found. Slowly, another story started to present itself: how the Metropolitan Police had called a series of extraordinary high-profile investigations based on evidence that ranged from thin to nonexistent. The police service, which is supposed to be utterly impartial, appeared to have allowed itself to have been diverted by a frenzy to investigate.

Our Panorama documentary — ‘The VIP Paedophile Ring: What’s the Truth?’ — was broadcast last week. The Met were furious, claiming even before we broadcast that they had ‘serious concerns’ about its impact on the witnesses involved and on the ‘willingness of victims of abuse to come forward to police’. But soon the Met had to focus more on the consequences of its own actions. It has now belatedly apologised to the family of Leon Brittan for not making clear it had found no evidence to support ‘Jane’s’ rape allegation.