Operation Midland

Carl Beech, whose false allegations were the basis of 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.

Following the reporting of the inquiry's findings, the Metropolitan Police were forced to make apologies to those who had been accused and to compensate them financially. The disastrous outcome of the operation further eroded the organisation's reputation, already impacted by government pressure to improve its handling of abuse cases. It was concluded that, as a consequence, genuine victims of abuse might be discouraged from coming forward.[5] The inquiry's handling was criticised by some of the accused in Operation Midland. 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. In July 2019, he was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in prison.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc141114 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Child abuse inquiry: Police investigate three alleged murders". BBC News. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  3. ^ Laville, Sandra; Syal, Rajeev (21 March 2016). "Operation Midland: inquiry into alleged VIP paedophile ring collapses". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  4. ^ a b Evans, Martin (22 July 2019). "Carl Beech aka Nick found guilty of making up Westminster VIP paedophile ring". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  5. ^ Dodd, Kikram; Taylor, Matthew (8 November 2016). "Operation Midland police fell for 'false claims' of VIP abuse, report says". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2017.