Damning review finds raft of failings
Officers misled judge to get warrant warrants
Investigators did not challenge credibility of main witness
Wrongly said that allegations were ‘credible and true’
Five officers referred to IPCC
Head of Scotland Yard apologises for impact on people’s lives
Read the latest summary
5.01pm GMT
4.40pm GMT
Harvey Proctor said he has accepted an apology from Hogan-Howe but that the inquiry had had an irreversible impact on his life, family and friends.
Today, without prejudice, I accepted an unreserved apology from Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) Commissioner, in respect of Operation Midland.
However, I have informed him the detrimental impact of the investigation on the life of my family, friends and myself was irreversible.
4.21pm GMT
The NSPCC has expressed fears the report could prevent victims coming forward.
A spokeswoman for the charity said:
Lessons must be learned from this sorry episode, and it is extremely disappointing that this report has not been published in full.
It takes unimaginable bravery for victims to come forward – we are concerned that this report’s recommendations could undermine the confidence of victims to do so, and we cannot allow it to result in a return to the dark days when we looked the other way and failed to confront the horrors of abuse and bring those responsible to justice.
4.08pm GMT
Henriques said it was “unlikely” that the government would pass an anonymity before charge law, because it would enrage tabloid editors.
However, the government should pass an anonymity before arrest law, he said.
3.55pm GMT
Henriques also reviewed another investigation, Operation Vincente, an inquiry into a separate allegation that Lord Brittan raped a 19-year-old woman.
The retired judge found it “involved a grave error of judgment” and it was “obvious” while the peer was still alive that there was not enough evidence to charge him. He said;
It was also manifest that he was very poorly. I am in no doubt that he should have been informed during his lifetime that no action would be taken.
3.39pm GMT
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse, the senior officer in charge of Operation Midland, is one of five officers referred to police regulator, the IPCC, in the light of today’s report.
Rodhouse has responded in a statement. He said:
I do not believe that I, or indeed any officer within Operation Midland, have committed any misconduct. While it is right that lessons should be learned from Operation Midland I want to emphasise that my colleagues and I investigated the allegations made with the best of intentions. Indeed I am grateful that Sir Richard himself recorded that the Operation Midland officers ‘conducted this investigation in a conscientious manner and with propriety and honesty’. If a further investigation is required then I will, of course, continue fully to co-operate with it.
3.22pm GMT
Recommendation 10 of the report says:
A suspect should have the right to anonymity prior to arrest enforced by statute and criminal sanctions.
3.13pm GMT
A spokesperson for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who has the power to sack the Met’s commissioner and instigate Met inquiries, said that a series of extremely serious errors were made by the Met which threaten the trust of Londoners in its police force.
It is absolutely vital that victims of rape and sexual assault feel confident to come forward and report crimes and that all allegations are treated seriously by the Met. MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime) will work closely with the Met and other key agencies to ensure victims are always fully supported when they report a crime.
The mayor will now be seeking full assurances from the Met commissioner on the consistency of the quality of the force’s investigations into sexual offences and guarantees that the failings of past investigations will not be repeated.
3.01pm GMT
The complainant referred for criminal investigation is ‘Nick’, whose allegations initiated Operation Midland, police have confirmed.
The Met said it has referred an allegation of attempting to pervert the course of justice to Northumbria police.
2.54pm GMT
The report says that the investigation could have been carried out without those accused by Nick learning of it
It said the principal cause of the mistakes in Operation Midland was the decision to search several premises, which it described as “a grave error of judgement”.
2.46pm GMT
The Met has said it is referring the conduct of five officers to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in the light of the Henriques report. One of them is a deputy assistant commissioner.
IPCC deputy chair Rachel Cerfontyne said:
We were advised earlier today that the Metropolitan police is to refer the conduct of five officers, ranging in rank from sergeant to deputy assistant commissioner, to the IPCC in relation to Operation Midland. We understand the conduct of a deputy assistant commissioner will also be referred to the IPCC regarding a different operation.
We have assembled an assessment team to analyse relevant documentation to be supplied by the force, and provide me with a recommendation. Once I receive that recommendation, I will decide whether there will be an investigation and, if so, what form that investigation will take. I am aware of the significant public interest in these matters and I will announce that decision once I have made it and all concerned parties have been notified.
2.31pm GMT
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has released a lengthy statement in response to the report.
This is just a part of it:
Forty-three failings are identified in Operation Midland. The principal errors were:
To believe the complainant Nick was a credible person for too long;
These investigations – and those in Operation Yewtree many of which led to convictions - started at a time when there was significant concern that numerous sexual attacks on children and others had been ignored, including by the Metropolitan Police in decades gone by.
Even worse were the allegations that abuse had been covered up by the establishment, including the government.
2.23pm GMT
The report by retired judge Sir Richard Henriques into Operation Midland says that officers misled a judge to get search warrants and identified 43 failings.
It says the investigation was riddled with errors, and a complainant will be investigated for attempting to pervert the course of justice. The report does not name the complainant but the main allegations that triggered the operation came from a man known as “Nick”.
2.13pm GMT
It has been confirmed that the Met commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, has apologised, ahead of publication of the report, to the former Conservative MP, Harvey Proctor, who was one of those investigated by Operation Midland.
The head of Scotland Yard, said he was apologising after “significant failings” by the Met were identified in the report.
Now that we have received the final version of Sir Richard Henriques’s report I am writing to you formally to convey my apologies for the failings by the Metropolitan police service that Sir Richard has identified in the way in which we handled Operation Midland in which you were a suspect.
Sir Richard has concluded, and I accept, that there were significant failings in the way that the Operation Midland investigation was conducted.
While it was right that the allegations had to be investigated, the effect of the approach adopted was to unnecessarily prolong the length of the investigation.
For these failings by the MPS (Metropolitan police service) I would like to offer you now an unreserved apology.
2.03pm GMT
The key questions we are waiting for from the report are:
1.57pm GMT
The media are gathering at a location in south London for the release of the report.
On a board stating the Met’s values is a slogan:
We will learn from experience and find ways to be even better.
We will build trust by listening and responding.
1.49pm GMT
The BBC’s home affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw, reports that the former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, who was one of those wrongfully accused of being part of a VIP paedophile ring, has received an apology from the Met police commissioner.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe is reported to have apologised to former MP Harvey Proctor over "significant" failings in Op #Midland....
1.42pm GMT
This is a useful graphic, explaining the people involved in/connected with Operation Midland:
1.30pm GMT
The review into how Scotland Yard handled claims that prominent establishment figures sexually abused and killed children between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s will be published at 2.15pm today.
The report into the Met’s Operation Midland, which investigated allegations that the likes of former military chief, Lord Bramall, former home secretary, Leon Brittan, and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor were involved in a Westminster paedophile ring is expected to make difficult reading for the force.
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