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Child abuse inquiry: Police investigate three alleged murders | Child abuse inquiry: Police investigate three alleged murders |
(35 minutes later) | |
Detectives are investigating three alleged murders as part of an inquiry into historical child abuse, the Met Police has said. | Detectives are investigating three alleged murders as part of an inquiry into historical child abuse, the Met Police has said. |
Police say no confirmed identities or bodies of victims had been found. | |
Officers made a public appeal for information relating to Dolphin Square estate in Pimlico, south-west London, amid claims boys were abused there. | |
Allegations of a paedophile ring involving prominent figures in the 1970s and 1980s are being investigated. | Allegations of a paedophile ring involving prominent figures in the 1970s and 1980s are being investigated. |
The appeal was made as part of Operation Midland, which is under the umbrella of Operation Fairbank, and is one of a number of ongoing inquiries into historical abuse. | |
'Credible and true' | 'Credible and true' |
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse said police were examining whether children were abused at locations across London, in the Home Counties and at "military establishments". | |
BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds said it was the first time Operation Midland had confirmed the number of possible murders officers were investigating. | |
He said the allegations were that the murders involved three children. The claims also included allegations a child had been run over. | |
Police said the inquiry was working through historical missing persons reports and unsolved child murders to look for possible links to the case. | |
However, officers said the search was being hampered by out-of-date records from the past. | However, officers said the search was being hampered by out-of-date records from the past. |
The operation stems from allegations made by a man known as "Nick", who says he was abused by a paedophile ring including high-profile people from the age of seven to 16. | |
He has told police he was taken by car to "parties" where he was abused by a man on his own, as well as a group of men, at a flat in the Dolphin Square estate. | |
Asked about the claims, Det Supt Kenny McDonald - who is overseeing Operation Midland - said officers who had spoken to him thought his account was "credible and true". | Asked about the claims, Det Supt Kenny McDonald - who is overseeing Operation Midland - said officers who had spoken to him thought his account was "credible and true". |
"Nick has described how a car would be sent to collect him, and he would be driven to Dolphin Square," he said. | |
Det Supt MacDonald appealed for other boys who might have been abused to come forward. | Det Supt MacDonald appealed for other boys who might have been abused to come forward. |
"I believe that there were other boys who were abused, or who were present while the abuse took place," he said. | |
"I would ask you to trust me. I will support you, and do everything in my power to find those responsible and bring them to justice. I need your accounts to help me do that." | |
'Very powerful people' | 'Very powerful people' |
It comes after Nick gave his first broadcast interview last month, telling the BBC his abusers had no hesitation in doing what they wanted. | It comes after Nick gave his first broadcast interview last month, telling the BBC his abusers had no hesitation in doing what they wanted. |
"Some of them were quite open about who they were. They had no fear at all of being caught, it didn't cross their mind," he said. | "Some of them were quite open about who they were. They had no fear at all of being caught, it didn't cross their mind," he said. |
The abusers "created fear that penetrated every part of me, day in day out", he added. | The abusers "created fear that penetrated every part of me, day in day out", he added. |
"You didn't question what they wanted, you did as they asked without question and the punishments were very severe. | "You didn't question what they wanted, you did as they asked without question and the punishments were very severe. |
"They were very powerful people and they controlled my life for the next nine years," he told the BBC. | "They were very powerful people and they controlled my life for the next nine years," he told the BBC. |
Ongoing abuse inquiries | |
Other ongoing inquiries | |
Scotland Yard detectives have spoken to the family of Martin Allen, who disappeared in 1979 at the age of 15, police confirmed. | |
Police were also in close contact with Sussex Police, where officers are carrying out a further review into the disappearance and murder of eight-year-old Vishal Mehrotra in 1981. | |
Officers said it was not possible to say whether either disappearance was linked to the inquiry. | |
Operation Midland was launched by the Met's homicide and major crime team last month. | |
It comes as the government has launched two inquiries into historical child sex abuse allegations. |