CATCHY TABLOID HEADLINE THAT CATCHES PEOPLES EYE AND TELLS PEOPLE WHERE THEY COME FROM

In July 2019, Carl Beech, a man previously residing in Gloucester, was sentenced to a lengthy prison term of 18 years after being found guilty of making false allegations involving VIP paedophile abuse. The court heard that Beech, aged 51 at the time, had fabricated a story claiming he was a victim of a powerful and sinister paedophile ring that allegedly included senior politicians, military officials, and intelligence agency leaders from MI5 and MI6. His accusations extended to claims that he and others had been subjected to torture, sexual assault, and abuse at the hands of these high-profile figures, and that he had witnessed the brutal murder of three young boys, details which he insisted were true.

During the sentencing at Newcastle Crown Court, Mr. Justice James Goss described Beech as a highly manipulative and devious individual, emphasizing his intelligence and resourcefulness in orchestrating such a complex web of lies. The judge condemned Beech for damaging the reputations of innocent victims, some of whom had already died before the case could be properly addressed. Among those was Lord Janner, who passed away in 2015; Beech had falsely claimed that he was raped by Lord Janner at the Carlton Club in London. The Janner family expressed ongoing distress over the false accusations, with Lord Janner’s daughter, Marion Janner, stating she was still “tormented by the injustice of the situation and the irreversible damage” caused by Beech’s claims. Her brother Daniel described the allegations as “ghastly.”

Other prominent figures falsely accused by Beech included former MP Harvey Proctor, whom Beech accused of threatening to castrate him. Proctor described the ordeal as life-changing, recounting how the investigation led him to withdraw from public life, suffer verbal abuse, and even flee to a remote part of Spain. He detailed the physical and emotional toll, noting that he was no longer in good health due to the stress caused by the false allegations.

In addition to Lord Janner and Harvey Proctor, Beech’s accusations extended to elderly and distinguished individuals such as 91-year-old Normandy veteran Field Marshal Lord Bramall and the late Lord Brittan. These allegations prompted police raids on their homes as part of Operation Midland, a police investigation launched in 2014 to probe Beech’s claims. The operation, which cost approximately £2.5 million and concluded in 2016 without any arrests, was heavily criticized by Proctor and others as a “truly disgraceful chapter in the history of British policing.”

Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Stephen House, defended the officers involved, stating they had acted in good faith and that lessons might be learned from the case. Meanwhile, Labour Party deputy leader Tom Watson called for further police investigation, noting that he had met Beech in 2014 but only assured him that his allegations would be taken seriously, emphasizing that it was not his role to judge the veracity of the claims.

Beech’s falsehoods extended beyond high-profile accusations. He also misled the family of Martin Allen, a boy who went missing in 1979 at age 15, claiming he had seen a boy matching Allen’s description being raped and strangled. His allegations included claims that his stepfather, an Army major, had raped him and then handed him over to generals for sadistic abuse at military bases, involving other establishment figures. Beech also alleged that he was abused for nine years during the 1970s by a group he called “The Group,” which he claimed included former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, disgraced TV personality Jimmy Savile, and Sir Michael Hanley and Sir Maurice Oldfield, the heads of MI5 and MI6 respectively.

Following a nine-week trial, Beech was convicted on multiple counts, including 12 of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for these crimes, which also included charges of voyeurism and possession of indecent images of children—offenses he had previously admitted. The images, which included 36 at the most severe Category A level, were found on three electronic devices belonging to him. Beech showed no visible emotion as he was led away from the dock.

Earlier in January 2019, Beech, then 50 and formerly of Gloucester, had pleaded guilty to voyeurism and possessing over 300 indecent images of children. The charges involved secretly filming a boy using a toilet and included four counts of making indecent images, one of possessing such images, and one of voyeurism. The images depicted the gravest forms of abuse, and Beech was remanded in custody pending sentencing at a later date.