The Lord Janner of Braunstone | |
|---|---|
 Janner in 2009 | |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 25 October 1997 – 19 December 2015 | |
| Member of Parliament for Leicester West Leicester North West (1970–1974) | |
| In office 18 June 1970 – 8 April 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Barnett Janner |
| Succeeded by | Patricia Hewitt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Greville Ewan Janner 11 July 1928 Cardiff, Wales |
| Died | 19 December 2015 (aged 87) London, England |
| Resting place | Willesden Jewish Cemetery |
| Political party | Labour (suspended April 2015)[1] |
| Spouse |
Myra Sheink
(m. 1955; died 1996) |
| Children | 3, including Daniel and Laura |
| Education | St Paul's School, London |
| Alma mater | Trinity Hall, Cambridge Harvard Law School |
| Profession | Barrister |
Greville Ewan Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, QC (11 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was a British politician, barrister and writer. He became a Labour Party Member of Parliament for Leicester in the 1970 general election as a last-minute candidate, succeeding his father. He was an MP until 1997, and then elevated to the House of Lords. Never a frontbencher, Janner was particularly known for his work on Select Committees; he chaired the Select Committee on Employment for a time.[2] He was associated with a number of Jewish organisations including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, of which he was chairman from 1978 to 1984, and was later prominent in the field of education about the Holocaust.
Beginning in 1991, several allegations of child sexual abuse were made against Janner. Criminal proceedings brought in 2015 were halted by his death in December of that year; claims made against his estate were all dropped by May 2017, with Janner's family calling the claimants "false accusers" afraid of cross-examination.[3] Carl Beech, whose accusations had led to the Operation Midland police investigation (and who was himself found to be a child sex offender), was convicted for false accusation of Janner and others and jailed for 18 years;[4] the Janner family subsequently criticized both the Labour politician Tom Watson for his part in the affair, and the system "where people are believed instantly before the evidence is examined".[5] An enquiry into the handling of the case by officials began in October 2020.[6] In October 2021, the enquiry concluded that the police "appeared reluctant to fully investigate" the allegations against Janner, and that the process had been marred by a "series of failings".[7]
- ^ "Lord Janner will not face child sex abuse charges, CPS says", BBC News, 16 April 2015
- ^ Bates, Stephen (19 December 2015). "Greville Janner obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- ^ Sandeman, George (29 May 2017). "Lord Janner accusers drop all claims of historical abuse". The Times.
- ^ Diver, Tony; Johnson, Jamie; Dixon, Hayley (26 July 2019). "Met police 'fanned the flames' of Carl Beech's false allegations of Westminster paedophile ring" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ "Paedophile's false allegations about my father 'make me sick,' says Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner – The Jewish Chronicle". Archived from the original on 26 July 2019.
- ^ Bowcott, Owen (12 October 2020). "Lord Janner child sexual abuse inquiry begins". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ "Lord Janner: Police shut down MP child abuse investigations – report". BBC News. 19 October 2021.