Mystery deaths probe ‘may expose child abuse ring’

Home Secretary Theresa May has been criticised for presiding over controversies relating to the panel overseeing an investigation into historic abuse of children. Picture: PA

And John Mann called on Home Secretary Theresa May to lift the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act in relation to historic abuse, which he believes are holding back former Special Branch police officers from coming forward with vital information relating to allegations of a child sex ring linked to powerful people in Westminster in the 1970s and 1980s.

Meanwhile, a second Labour MP warned that the UK government looks as though it does not “want to get to the truth” about historic child abuse after Mrs May indicated that a troubled inquiry panel commissioned to look into the issue could be disbanded and replaced.

Simon Danczuk said victims would be dismayed at the lack of progress in the probe, and could not help worrying that the litany of mistakes – including the resignation of two chairmen following claims about their perceived closeness to establishment figures – was “deliberate”.

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Mr Mann has handed over a dossier to the Metropolitan Police detailing allegations relating to 22 MPs and former MPs – including some still active in the Houses of Commons and Lords.

He said 13 former ministers were on the list given to the Operation Trinity investigation into alleged abuse in children’s homes in Lambeth, south London. And he said the two suspicious deaths involved victims believed to have been planning to hand over “significant information” about abuse in Lambeth to the authorities.

One was council official Bulic Forsythe, whose body was found in a burning flat in 1993, the other an unnamed caretaker who died in a suspected arson attack a couple of years earlier.

Mr Mann said: “What I want to see is both those suspicious deaths reinvestigated because what links them together was both were people who in essence were blowing the whistle on child abuse.”

The two men’s deaths were “undoubtedly linked to child abuse and potentially linked into the wider scandal”, he said.

“There are figures in authority who are linked in, in both cases, and therefore it’s all the more important that they are fully investigated. And that means putting significant resources in. That’s what I’m calling for – enough police officers with enough specialism in there so that every stone is turned over to see what lies beneath it. There’s certainly a lot there with these two cases.”

It was “crystal clear” that Mr Forsythe’s death was highly suspicious and that he had “crucial information about child abuse” which was “very precise and relates to what’s come much more to light in the last 12 months”, said the Bassetlaw MP.

Mr Mann indicated that some of the information in his dossier came from former police officers, and urged Mrs May to lift restrictions preventing them from coming forward with evidence.

“There’s former police officers, especially Special Branch officers, some of whom have contacted me, who do have significant information and if the Official Secrets Act restrictions are lifted on them will be far more willing to come forward and divulge that information,” said Mr Mann.

“I think some of that would be hugely significant in moving forward and potentially prosecuting some of these cases.

• Inquiry announced for child abuse in Scots care

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