Half-brother of Tory MP in sex offence sentencing

The half-brother of a Tory MP who admitted to a string of historic sex offences will be sentenced today. Picture: PA

Charles Napier, 67, who is related to Maldon MP John Whittingdale, admitted 28 indecent assault charges and one indecency offence on a child at London’s Southwark Crown Court last month.

Napier, of Newland in Sherborne, Dorset, admitted abusing 21 boys under the age of 16 between September 1967 and April 1972.

One charge involved a boy who was indecently assaulted on eight occasions by Napier between September 1969 and April 1972.

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The indecency offence involved a child who was forced to commit a sex act on Napier, the court heard.

Napier was arrested last year under Operation Cayacos, a strand of a wider investigation which was launched following claims by MP Tom Watson.

In 2012 Mr Watson used parliamentary privilege to claim that a file of evidence used to convict Peter Righton of importing child pornography in 1992 contained “clear intelligence” of a sex abuse gang.

He wrote to Scotland Yard, who launched criminal investigation Operation Fairbank, which has since spawned two more inquiries - Fernbridge, which is looking at claims linked to the Elm Guest House in Barnes, south west London, in the 1980s, and Cayacos.

Napier, who was remanded in custody on November 18 after admitting his guilt, also faces two separate indecent assault charges involving two other boys, for which he is due to enter pleas today.

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