Cressida Dick: PM has ‘complete confidence’ in Met Police chief
Boris Johnson has backed Metropolitan Police boss Dame Cressida Dick amid criticism of her force’s handling a sex abuse investigation.
The Met is under renewed pressure over the way it investigated now discredited claims about a VIP paedophile ring.
Home Secretary Priti Patel told LBC that the Met and its chief faced “serious questions” about the episode.
No 10 later insisted both the PM and Ms Patel both had “complete confidence” in Dame Cressida.
The Met has apologised for its actions during Operation Midland, in which a number of high-profile public figures were falsely accused of sexual abuse and had their homes searched.
While accepting it made “serious mistakes” during the two-year probe, the force has rejected claims of a cover-up and resisted calls for senior officers involved to face disciplinary action.
The widow of former Home Secretary Lord Brittan, one of those who was wrongly accused, has said Dame Cressida should take personal responsibility for failings in the investigation.
And Sir Richard Henriques, whose critical 2016 repot into Operation Midland led to the Met paying compensation to Lady Brittan and others, has called for further action to be taken.
He told the BBC another force should investigate the way Met officers obtained search warrants, accusing them of misleading a judge and failing to disclose there were inconsistencies in the accounts of main witness Carl Beech.
Beech was subsequently discredited as a liar and fantasist and, in 2019, sentenced to 18 years in prison for perverting the course of justice, committing fraud and several child sexual offences.
‘Many questions’
Ms Patel told LBC Radio she would look closely at Sir Richard’s concerns, which he first raised in an open letter to the home secretary in the Daily Mail.
She said that the Independent Office of Police Conduct had “exonerated” the officers involved in the inquiry, although Sir Richard has suggested the watchdog, which found no evidence of misconduct or criminality, had failed to do its job properly and should itself be investigated.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTPA MEDIAAsked whether she still had faith in Dame Cressida, Ms Patel said she had done a “lot of great work” and the two were working together to ensure recommended changes to standards at the Met were fully implemented.
She added: “The police are not above the law and there are many questions that still need looking at and investigating.
“It is absolutely my responsibility to go back and look at some of these questions being posed.
“Serious questions are obviously being asked of the Metropolitan Police and the commissioner and I will continue to ask those questions.”
Downing Street rejected suggestions Ms Patel was wavering in her support.
The PM’s official spokesman said both Mr Johnson and the home secretary had “complete confidence” in the UK’s most senior police officer, who took on the role in 2017, and they were “working together to reduce crime and protect the public from serious crime, terrorism and the pandemic”.
“This was a deeply concerning case and PM’s thoughts are with Lady Brittan and others affected,” the spokesman added.
“Nobody should have to experience what they did. The public need to have confidence the police are exercising their powers in an proportionate way.”
‘Lessons learnt’
Dame Cressida has apologised to Lady Brittan and others caught up in the investigation, including former Tory MP Harvey Proctor and former armed forces chief Lord Bramall, whose houses were also raided.
Lady Brittan, who husband died in January 2015, has said the “buck stops” with Dame Cressida and accused the force of a culture of “cover up and flick away”.
Speaking on Friday, deputy commissioner Sir Stephen House said the force was “truly sorry” for the mistakes it had made during the investigation and insisted that lesson had been learnt.
He added: “Operation Midland is without doubt one of the most scrutinised investigations in policing history. There is no cover-up and nor has there been one.
“It is important to recognise here that although there were undoubtedly very serious mistakes made during the Operation Midland investigation, this does not in itself mean that there was misconduct by the officers involved.”