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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Met Police ends Kids Company abuse inquiry | Met Police ends Kids Company abuse inquiry |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A Metropolitan Police investigation into allegations of abuse at UK charity Kids Company has been closed after it found no evidence of criminality. | A Metropolitan Police investigation into allegations of abuse at UK charity Kids Company has been closed after it found no evidence of criminality. |
| Officers carried out "extensive inquiries" into claims of physical and sexual abuse at the now closed south London-based charity, but found no evidence to reach the threshold for criminal prosecution, a statement said. | Officers carried out "extensive inquiries" into claims of physical and sexual abuse at the now closed south London-based charity, but found no evidence to reach the threshold for criminal prosecution, a statement said. |
| No-one was interviewed under caution or arrested during the inquiry, it said. | No-one was interviewed under caution or arrested during the inquiry, it said. |
| Kids Company always denied the claims. | Kids Company always denied the claims. |
| The children's charity, which was founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996, and had centres in London, Liverpool and Bristol, closed in August after questions over its management and finances. | The children's charity, which was founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996, and had centres in London, Liverpool and Bristol, closed in August after questions over its management and finances. |
| 'Grateful to police' | |
| Ms Batmanghelidjh said she "burst into tears" when police told her about their investigation. | Ms Batmanghelidjh said she "burst into tears" when police told her about their investigation. |
| "That's the reason the charity closed. We had money confirmed. But the philanthropists said they couldn't support us when we were informed there were allegations," she said. | "That's the reason the charity closed. We had money confirmed. But the philanthropists said they couldn't support us when we were informed there were allegations," she said. |
| "I'm very grateful to the police for acting honourably and fairly. I now think there needs to be an inquiry into how this situation came about, why was it in the hands of Newsnight and what happened after that and why weren't we properly informed." | |
| The investigation into Kids Company was believed to have been triggered by claims made by a former employee to a BBC Newsnight and BuzzFeed News investigation. | |
| An independent expert advised the BBC that the claims raised concerns about the safeguarding of young people. Details from the interview were passed to the authorities, with the former employee's consent. | |
| The Met said it launched the investigation after receiving information from a journalist in July, and detectives from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command investigated 32 pieces of information covering a period from 2008 to 2015. | |
| The majority were "third party reports which were vague in detail", the Met said. | |
| Officers also did not find any evidence of failings by the charity in its duty to safeguard children or vulnerable adults. |