The Elm Guest House was a hotel in Rocks Lane, near Barnes Common in southwest London. In a list produced by convicted fraudster Chris Fay, several prominent British men were alleged to have engaged in sexual abuse and child grooming at the Guest House in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Labour MP Tom Watson, having heard testimony from Carl Beech, suggested in an October 2012 statement to the House of Commons that a paedophile network which had existed at this time may have brought children to parties at the private residence.
During 2014 and 2015, allegations against several leading politicians of the period, mostly now deceased, were made public in the British press. Many of these claims were examined and discredited in an October 2015 episode of the BBC current affairs television programme, Panorama.
The role of the guest house became the subject of a Metropolitan Police Service investigation known as Operation Fairbank in late 2012. The purpose of this "scoping exercise" was to assess Watson's claims. As a result of allegations arising from Operation Fairbank, a full criminal investigation called Operation Fernbridge was launched in February 2013.[1] No evidence of abuse connected to the Elm Guest House was uncovered, and the operation was closed in March 2015.[2] Another investigation, Operation Midland, was set up to examine claims of possible murders. A subsequent inquiry found that those investigated by Operation Midland had been victims of false allegations. In November 2016, the then-Metropolitan Police commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, made a personal apology to the innocent parties involved. In May 2019, Beech, who was himself found to be a child sex offender, was placed on trial, charged with perverting the course of justice and fraud, which he denied. Beech was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in jail in July 2019.[3]
Midland was invoked but never defined (see the help page).