The man known as 'Nick', who sparked the Westminster VIP paedophile scandal with a series of lurid allegations against high profile figures, has been found guilty of making the entire thing up.

Carl Beech, 51, - a manipulative paedophile himself - was found guilty of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of fraud by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court, following a three month trial.

He now faces a lengthy prison sentence, after prosecutors proved he had invented a catalogue of extraordinary lies against some of the country's most prominent names in order to claim compensation.

Beech, a former paediatric nurse and father of one, told police he and other boys had been raped and abused by an organised gang which included Sir Edward Heath, the former Prime Minister; Lord Brittan, the former Home Secretary; Harvey Proctor, the former Tory MP; Lord Bramall, the former head of the Army; Greville Janner, the former Labour MP; Maurice Oldfield, the former head of MI6; Michael Hanley, the former director of MI5; General Sir Hugh Beach and Field Marshal Roland Gibbs.

It can now be revealed that Beech also claimed to have been abused by John J Louis Jr, the former US ambassador to Britain as well as a number of unnamed Saudi diplomats.