Misconduct claims against VIP abuse inquiry officer dropped

Gross misconduct proceedings have been withdrawn against a former Met Police officer who led an inquiry into what turned out to be false sex abuse allegations against a string of high-profile figures.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it had stopped its investigation into Steve Rodhouse after a "large volume of relevant material was recently disclosed" to it by the Met Police.

He faced allegations around comments made to the media in March 2016 concerning his beliefs about the honesty of two witnesses in the investigation.

In a statement, Mr Rodhouse said the allegations were "ill-founded and incorrect", adding that while he welcomed the decision he was "yet to receive an adequate explanation as to how this debacle occurred".

He led Operation Midland, which investigated false claims that MPs and generals - including former home secretary Lord Brittan, D-Day Veteran Lord Bramall, and ex-Conservative MP Harvey Proctor - had abused and murdered children.

The operation was largely based on claims made by Carl Beech, who was jailed in 2019 for making false allegations.

Mr Rodhouse was due to face a disciplinary hearing for potentially breaching police professional standards of behaviour for honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct.

The former Met deputy assistant commissioner was also alleged to have subsequently made remarks to former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, who had been commissioned to carry out an independent review of the handling of the operation in August 2016.

Beech was sentenced to 18 years in prison for 12 counts of perverting the course of justice, one of fraud, and for several child sexual offences after a damning review by Sir Richard recommended he be investigated by another police force.

But the BBC revealed in 2019 that two other complainants who had made false claims were not referred by the Met for investigation, despite Sir Richard recommending they should be.

The investigation by the IOPC related to an alleged contrast between Mr Rodhouse's private and public positions.

It was claimed Mr Rodhouse told Sir Richard in a private presentation in 2016 that he was "satisfied" the other two complainants had "told deliberate lies". Mr Rodhouse disputes that claim.

When Operation Midland had closed months earlier with no arrests or charges, Scotland Yard issued a public statement to the media that said detectives had "not found evidence to prove that they were knowingly misled by a complainant".

New material presented to the IOPC by the Met Police led to the investigation being closed.

The police watchdog said there was "no evidence" within the fresh material that there was "any inappropriate motivation in Mr Rodhouse's comments to the media" or which "s that he made those remarks during Sir Richard's review".

It said there was "substantial evidence to indicate" comments made to the media were "the result of collaboration between senior Met officers and staff".

The police watchdog added that there had also been "appropriate considerations, including a desire not to discourage victims of historic sex offences coming forward".

Mr Proctor said he was the complainant in the scrapped gross misconduct proceedings against Mr Rodhouse.

He labelled the IOPC's decision not to proceed as "disgraceful" and said it was an "insult to victims of false allegations and a betrayal of the public's trust".

He added: "For Mr Rodhouse to claim he acted with 'honesty, integrity and care' in Operation Midland is as grotesque as it is offensive."

Speaking about the operation, the former MP said that "innocent men, including myself, had our reputations shredded, homes raided, and lives wrecked based on obvious falsehoods".

"I will never get over what was done to me," he said. "Operation Midland is not history to me - it lives with me every hour of every day."

Mr Rodhouse, who is now a director at the National Crime Agency, said he was "pleased" the IOPC had "recognised that I acted with honesty, integrity and care throughout a difficult investigation".

He said police officers "must have confidence that any complaints about their conduct will be competently investigated in a balanced and timely fashion", adding "I now look forward to resuming my career investigating and prosecuting serious criminals."

IOPC Director Amanda Rowe said its decision on Thursday "does not change our finding that by failing to follow Sir Richard's recommendation in his review to investigate the witnesses, the Met's service was unacceptable".

She said: "Its subsequent reviews concluding no investigation was needed were flawed", adding, "we apologise to all of those affected and we are working with the force to establish exactly how and why this situation has occurred, and to reduce the risk of it happening again."

Ms Rowe said the police watchdog had reported a "potential crime" to the Met during its investigation, which was being "actively investigated by another force".