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Leon Brittan's widow receives full apology from Met police chief Leon Brittan's widow receives full apology from Met police chief
(about 2 hours later)
The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, offered a full apology to the widow of Leon Brittan, the former home secretary’s family have said. The Metropolitan police commissioner has met Leon Brittan’s widow to apologise for not telling her sooner that the investigation into an historical rape allegation against her husband, a former home secretary, had been dropped.
Hogan-Howe met Lady Brittan to discuss the force’s handling of a historical rape allegation against her husband. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe also admitted later in the day that the police may have lost the appearance of objectivity in the eyes of suspects in historical sexual abuse cases and that it was “time to reset the balance”.
In a statement on Tuesday, Lord Brittan’s familysaid: “Lady Brittan met the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, at a private meeting earlier this afternoon. The commissioner and the force he leads are under fire for their investigations into prominent people and allegations of sexual abuse going back decades.
Hogan-Howe met Diana Brittan to apologise for the delay in telling her and her husband, before he died, that he would not be charged over a claim of rape.
Related: Tom Watson to issue written apology to Leon Brittan's widowRelated: Tom Watson to issue written apology to Leon Brittan's widow
“At the start of the meeting Sir Bernard offered Lady Brittan a full apology on behalf of the force, which she accepted. The Metropolitan police have already publicly apologised for the delay, but Tuesday’s 80-minute meeting at the Goring hotel in Belgravia, allowed Britain’s top police officer to repeat the apology in person.
“Lady Brittan went on to ask and table some 30 questions regarding the two police enquiries as they related to Lord Brittan. Sir Bernard promised to answer them in writing and Lady Brittan and the family await his response. Hogan-Howe said Lady Brittan had “made it an easy conversation”, and detailed the pain inflicted on her family. “You’d have to be a block of stone not to be affected,” he said of her account.
“Lady Brittan and the family have nothing further to add at least until they have received Sir Bernard’s written response.” In a statement, Brittan said she had accepted the apology and tabled 30 more questions about the criminal inquiries into her husband. Lord Brittan was investigated for an alleged rape dating back to 1967. He had denied knowing the complainant, and that inquiry was dropped. Detectives from Operation Midland are still investigating him as part of their inquiry into an alleged VIP child sexual abuse ring operating in the 1970s and 80s.
The meeting lasted an hour and twenty minutes and took place at the Goring hotel in Belgravia, close to Scotland Yard’s headquarters in central London. The operation has proved controversial and led to searches of properties belonging to Brittan, the former military chief Lord Bramall and former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor.
Britain’s largest police force has come under fire over its handling of the claim that the late Tory peer raped a 19-year-old woman known as “Jane” in 1967. Brittan died in January last year without being told he would not face any action over the claim. Critics say it should be shut down and that Hogan-Howe should apologise for the impact it has had on those accused.
The Met commissioner declined to do so, but during an interview on BBC Radio London said a policy of “institutionalised belief” in victims’ allegations had caused confusion for detectives.
It is a theme Hogan-Howe first raised last week in an article he wrote for the Guardian, but went further in his radio interview, noting that when the scandal over sexual abuse first broke they were accused of a cover-up, but now were being accused of a “witch hunt”.
Hogan-Howe told BBC Radio London: “Twenty or 30 years ago people did not believe children, on the whole, when they alleged things against teachers, priests etc … We don’t want that to happen of course.
“There’s a danger, if you go right to the other extent of the spectrum, that in fact more victims may come forward, but the suspects think the investigators aren’t objective.
“I think that’s possibly where we are, time to reset the balance and have look at it.”
The Met announced an inquiry led by the retired high court judge Richard Henriques into the handling of historical allegations of sexual abuse against public figures, which will consider whether the policy for officers in rape and sexual abuse cases should now be altered.
The commissioner said Operation Midland was continuing and that one reason for the time it was taking was that new witnesses had come forward and their accounts had to be investigated.
In her statement, Brittan and her family said: “At the start of the meeting Sir Bernard offered Lady Brittan a full apology on behalf of the force, which she accepted.
“Lady Brittan went on to ask and table some 30 questions regarding the two police enquiries as they related to Lord Brittan.
Related: Operation Midland has not found enough evidence to charge any suspectsRelated: Operation Midland has not found enough evidence to charge any suspects
Hogan-Howe told BBC Radio London: “I have [apologised to Lord Brittan’s widow] this afternoon. “Sir Bernard promised to answer them in writing and Lady Brittan and the family await his response.”
“We had a private conversation. It was a constructive one and I hope she found it helpful. I confirmed the apology that we made some months ago now. Lord Brittan died in January 2015, aged 75, without being told the investigation into the rape allegation had ended and he would not be charged.
“It is an apology for not telling her at an early stage about the fact that Lord Brittan, who by that stage unfortunately had died, was not to be prosecuted in the future. Hogan-Howe said of the apology: “I confirmed the apology we made some months ago now, which is an apology for not telling her at an earlier stage about the fact the Lord Brittan, who by that stage had unfortunately died, was not to be prosecuted as there was no chance of a successful prosecution. I thought it was important to meet her and it was a very precise apology for the reasons that have previously been given.”
“There was no chance of successful prosecution ... I thought it was important to meet her.”
Hogan-Howe added: “The only reason it’s not been made in person [before now] is because we couldn’t make the necessary arrangements for the meeting. I won’t go into the reasons for that.”
In October police apologised to Lady Brittan, saying she should have been informed earlier that there would not have been a prosecution had her husband been alive.
Lord Brittan has also been named in connection with the hugely controversial Operation Midland, a separate inquiry into allegations of a VIP paedophile gang.