Lord Janner dead: Simon Danczuk stands by decision to expose allegations of abuse in Parliament
Former Labour peer died after a long illness on Saturday
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Your support makes all the difference.Simon Danczuk has defended his decision to expose allegations that Lord Janner had abused children inside the Houses of Parliament after his death on Saturday.
The Labour MP for Rochdale told MPs in a June Westminster Hall debate that Leicestershire police had disclosed to him how the former Labour peer "violated, raped and tortured - some in the very building in which we now sit".
He was using his Parliamentary privilege to repeat the allegations.
Mr Danczuk said Lord Janner's death on Saturday is a sad day for his alleged victims. He told the Independent on Sunday: “Obviously it is a sad day for Lord Janner’s family and my sympathies go out to them. But it is also sad for the alleged victims of Lord Janner.
“I met with Leicestershire police some months ago, who provided some details of the historic allegations of abuse and it was for that reason that I took the decision to use Parliamentary privilege to publicise them. I stand by that decision.
“These allegations should have been tested in court for the sake of the alleged victims. It’s a sad day that justice has been lost.
“The reason that a number of us have been calling for investigations into historic child abuse is because the alleged perpetrators are elderly. As we saw with Cyril Smith and now with Lord Janner, the alleged perpetrator dies before justice can be done.”
The former Labour MP for Leicester West was accused of 22 sexual offences dating back to the 1960s against nine alleged victims, the majority of whom were 16 or under at the time.
A High Court judge ruled Lord Janner was "unfit to plead" over the accusations in December and a 'trial of the facts' was scheduled to take place in April.