Scotland Yard detectives misled a judge in order to obtain warrants to search the homes of three entirely innocent suspects during its disastrous Operation Midland inquiry, a scathing report has concluded.

Sir Richard Henriques, who carried out a review into the £2.5 million investigation, identified 43 separate mistakes by the Metropolitan Police and said the reputations of D-Day veteran Lord Bramall; former Home Secretary, Lord Brittan and former Tory MP, Harvey Proctor had been “shattered by the word of a single uncorroborated complainant”.

That complainant, known only as Nick, is now being investigated on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The Metropolitan Police announced it had passed the case to Northumbria Police which will now assess whether there is enough evidence to bring charges against him for making false and malicious claims.