Elm Guest House hoax
In a list produced by convicted fraudster Chris Fay, several prominent British men were alleged to have engaged in sexual abuse and child grooming at the Guest House in the late 1970s and early 1980s.Labour MP Tom Watson, having heard testimony from Carl Beech, suggested in an October 2012 statement to the House of Commons that a paedophile network which had existed at this time may have brought children to parties at the private residence.The list included former government ministers, senior MPs, top police officers, judges, pop music stars, and people with links to the Royal Households.[12] In the aftermath of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal in October 2012, Labour MP Tom Watson said in the House of Commons he had evidence that there was a "powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and Number 10".[14] With the public upset that Jimmy Savile was never properly investigated over his alleged crimes, the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Fairbank as a scoping exercise to examine Watson's claims.[16] Watson wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions to reopen a separate rape investigation into Brittan that police had previously closed after finding no evidence to support the claim and "glaring inconsistencies" in the accuser's account.[22] Metropolitan Police Commander Neil Jerome gave evidence on Operation Athabasca's findings to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) on 14 February 2019.Jerome concluded that "no credible victim has ever come forward alleging a specific offence suffered whilst at Elm Guest House" and that no prominent person had ever been conclusively identified as having abused a child there.[25] Four months later, Beech told Operation Fairbank detectives that he had been abused by a VIP gang of paedophiles for over a decade at various locations, including at the Elm Guest House and Dolphin Square,[26] and that he had witnessed them murder three boys.[2] An inquiry conducted by Richard Henriques found that those accused had been victims of false allegations and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hogan-Howe subsequently apologised to the living suspects (Bramall and Proctor) and Brittan's widow.