Carl Beech: Former judge’s call for police to stop believing victims could have ‘chilling effect’ on rape investigations

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A “crisis” in rape prosecutions could be worsened by a damning report into Scotland Yard’s botched investigation into a fake paedophile ring, campaigners have warned.

A former High Court judge concluded that the “instruction to ‘believe a ‘victim’s’ account’ should cease” after examining the force’s handling of false complaints by fantasist Carl Beech.

“It should be the duty of an officer interviewing a complainant to investigate the facts objectively, impartially and with an open mind from the outset of the investigation,” Sir Richard Henriques said.

“The policy of ‘believing victims’ strikes at the very core of the criminal justice process … it has and will generate miscarriages of justice on a considerable scale.”

But victims’ groups said declining rape prosecutions – which have fallen to just 1.5 per cent of reported attacks – show that there is “no culture of over-belief of complainants in policing”.

Dame Vera Baird QC, the victims commissioner for England and Wales, warned of a potential “chilling effect both on policing rape and in the confidence of sexual abuse complainants that they will be believed”.

She argued that police did not fail because they initially believed Beech, but because they did not properly investigate the case and wrongly named those falsely accused.

“It is extraordinarily difficult for any rape, however powerful the evidence, even to get to charging now,” Dame Vera said. “There is no over-belief in those complainants.”

Sir Richard said a policy of believing alleged victims was not compatible with the core principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

But Dame Vera, a former criminal barrister and police and crime commissioner, refuted his claim and said police officers’ belief at the outset of an investigation does not affect the legal tests needed to charge and convict a suspect.

The Metropolitan Police fully accepted Sir Richard’s recommendations on belief, the report said, although it still follows separate guidance stating that crimes must be recorded if a claimant believes they have been committed.

The report was commissioned over the failed Operation Midland probe, which lasted 16 months at a cost of £4.5m but never resulted in an arrest.

It saw the homes of innocent figures including homes of D-Day veteran Lord Bramall and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor raided amid significant media coverage.

Beech, who is now serving an 18-year jail sentence, fabricated claims of historical rape, torture and murder by prominent figures in the military, security services and politics.

The fantasist, who was known as Nick until his anonymity was lifted, initially went to police following the broadcast of a television documentary on Jimmy Savile in 2012, and later wrote allegations on a blog.

The report criticised Scotland Yard for holding a press conference where a senior officer called Beech’s claims “credible and true”, and for obtaining unlawful search warrants based on his lies.

Sir Richard said the extent of false complaints of sexual abuse in Britain is not known, but that evidence suggested prominent people are “vulnerable to compensation seekers, attention seekers, and those with mental health problems”.

Rebecca Hitchen, campaigns manager at the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said one high-profile case should not “result in a system-wide change for the worse”.

“The implication in the Henriques report that the criminal justice system is somehow too one-sided and biased to the victim is frankly shocking,” she added. “The myth that false accusations are in any way common is hugely damaging and is in fact part of the reason why so few rapists end up convicted.”

Sir Richard accused victims’ campaigners of “failing to acknowledge the fundamental flaws in the ‘belief’ policy, not least the dreadful consequences of false complaints upon the innocent”.

“A genuine and truthful complainant has nothing to fear from a directive that prioritises investigation ahead of ‘belief’,” he said.

The Centre for Women’s Justice pointed out that some victims of the black cab rapist John Worboys, who was kept in prison following its campaign, did not report attacks because they feared not being believed.

“There is a powerful culture of disbelief of victims in relation to these offences, which has impacted on the very small proportion of rape victims coming forward to report,” said director Harriet Wistrich.

“At a time when there is a crisis in the prosecution of rape, this further directive can only further embed the decriminalisation of rape and sexual abuse.

“It is not only those falsely accused that suffer, but the thousands and thousands of victims who do not get justice.”

She said believing victims does not prevent the investigation and prosecution of vexatious complainants for perverting the course of justice.

Claire Waxman, London’s victims commissioner, said she was deeply concerned by Sir Richard’s recommendations.

“We know false allegations – whilst rare – can have a devastating impact and I’m clear they must be dealt with robustly, but we must also be wary of the impact on victims of kneejerk policies that neither support survivors of sexual abuse, nor ensure serious offenders are punished,” she said.

“We need to be doing much more to support rape victims who are being systematically failed.”

Steve Rodhouse, who authorised Operation Midland as Scotland Yard’s deputy assistant commissioner, said officers had been “conscious of the need to maintain the confidence of victims of abuse that they could come forward”.

The probe started in the wake of the Savile scandal, where it emerged that victims who were sexually abused as children had been dismissed and disbelieved, allowing his abuse to continue.

Mr Rodhouse, now at the National Crime Agency, added: “These investigations were happening at a time when there was little public confidence in the response to this type of allegation against prominent people.”