Operation Midland

Operation Midland was a criminal investigation which the London Metropolitan Police carried out between November 2014 and March 2016 in response to false allegations of historic child abuse made by Carl Beech.

The operation focused on investigation of several high-profile British citizens—politicians, military officers and heads of security—over claims of historic child sexual abuse and murder.

[1][2][3] The 18-month operation failed to find sufficient evidence to support the claims, and an inquiry into the police investigation afterwards concluded that the people involved had been falsely accused, leaving them dealing with considerable damage to their lives and reputations.

A report of the inquiry's findings found that detectives and officers within the operation's taskforce had committed several errors during the course of their work,[4] and made calls for more effective checks on allegations and accountability by police.

The perpetrator of the false allegations, Carl Beech, later investigated for perverting the course of justice, was himself found to have been a child abuser, and was eventually arrested and charged for his actions.

[4] In the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal in 2012, police were facing mounting pressure to investigate any and all cases of child abuse, particularly of a historic nature, reported by victims either directly to officers, or through interviews with journalists.

Appeals were sent out for further information and witness reports in regards to the allegations of child abuse and possible homicide, alongside any other potential activities of a similar nature that could have taken place near the Houses of Parliament between the 1970s and 1980s.

Although given anonymity and referenced by detectives under the name of "Darren", the Metropolitan Police questioned the validity of the claims, and eventually determined them to be potentially false.

[21] Fourteen months after Operation Midland began, detectives concluded there was insufficient evidence and no credible witnesses to support the continuation of investigations against the accused.

An extensive check was made into several areas, including how thoroughly police had looked into the allegations they had received from Beech, the treatment detectives had given to those accused by him, and the manner in which evidence had been acquired.

In regards to those accused and investigated by the police, Henriques made it clear in his findings that the men had been "all victims of false allegations" with it firmly noted that the "presumption of innocence appears to have been set aside.

For some, the damage ruined their reputations and their trust with the police;[26] in Harvey Proctor's case, the false claims effectively cost him his home and his job.

In the wake of the report into Operation Midland, Hogan-Howe was forced to personally apologise to some of the victims of the investigation for their treatment, including Bramall, Lord Brittan's widow, and Proctor.

[29] When the Panorama exposé was due to be broadcast in 2015, Metropolitan Police became "worried that this programme and other recent reporting will deter victims and witnesses from coming forward in future.

Over the eighteen months that Operation Midland was in effect, detectives spent over £2 million;[29] when it was clear that false allegations had been made, further costs were incurred – the investigation into Beech's allegations, handled by Northumbria Police, added a further £900,000, while the police were forced to compensate both Lord Bramall and Lady Brittan, at a cost of £100,000, for illegally entering their homes for documents and evidence without possessing a legal warrant.

[7] Detectives who investigated these allegations eventually concluded them to be unfounded, based on certain facts, which included his family situation in particular: his stepfather was married to his mother for only a few months before they divorced, and, shortly afterwards, retired from the army on mental health grounds.

He then turned to online blogs to spread his false claims: by 2014, he had become obsessed with public attention to potential historic abuse cases and their impact within British society, paying particular attention to rising conspiracy theories surrounding a possible cover-up amongst the British establishment, including the disappearance of significant documents concerning potential abuse cases.

In May 2019, Beech was placed on trial at Newcastle Crown Court, but denied the charges against him, continuing to pursue claims that his allegations were true despite the evidence to the contrary.

[35][7] The motives attributed to his actions varied, and were determined to be a mixture of a need for money – Beech had debts due to his spending habits – and his desire for the attention his claims granted him.