A 51-year-old man in the English Midlands was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment after he was found guilty on multiple counts of perverting the course of justice and fraud. Carl Beech, who had previously worked as a nurse, alleged for years that he had been raped, abused, and tortured by prominent Westminster residents and politicians.
Beech, using the name “Nick,” asserted to authorities that in the 1970s and 1980s he was repeatedly and profoundly abused by many prominent members of local society, all of whom are now quite elderly or deceased. Beech named several men, including World War Two veteran Field Marshal Lord Bramall, the late Lord Brittan, and former member of Parliament, Harvey Proctor. All three men had their homes raided and searched as part of the investigation by the Metropolitan Police.
Beech claimed that he was the victim of abuse at the hands of his step-father who allegedly raped and abused him as a child, then passed him around to many other powerful men in the community, including disgraced television presenter Jimmy Savile.
The investigation into allegations made by Beech concluded in 2016 without a single arrest. Prosecutor Tony Badenoch said of Beech, “In this case, the defendant’s conduct amounted to the cynical manipulation of the criminal justice system on an unprecedented scale … I find it extraordinary that an institution which formerly I held in high regard, the Metropolitan Police Service, allowed itself to lend weight to such false and incredible allegations.”
Family members of the accused men described the hardships they faced after being accused by Beech. In a victim impact panel, the widow of Lord Brittan described her husband’s final days as being made significantly more difficult by having to deal with the false accusations. She said, “I feel he was caught up in a totally unjustified witchhunt which took its toll on both him and me.”
