Police could not substantiate the abuse claims of “Nick”, who later sparked a £2m Scotland Yard inquiry into an alleged VIP paedophile ring, when he first went to authorities, a court has heard.

Carl Beech, 51, is accused of fabricating his account of being among the victims of an establishment group including senior figures in politics, the military and the intelligence services whom he alleged raped, kidnapped and murdered boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

His trial has heard that Beech – widely known under the pseudonym “Nick” – named only his late stepfather, Maj Raymond Beech, and Jimmy Savile when he first went to police in 2012 with claims of having been abused by a gang of paedophiles as a schoolboy.

On the fourth day of Beech’s trial at Newcastle crown court on Friday, DS Mark Lewis, who first interviewed Beech in late 2012 when he was referred to Wiltshire police, said he eventually closed his investigation into the allegations, classing it as “undetected”.

Lewis told the court he met Beech on 3 May 2013 to tell him the inquiry was being dropped after six months. “I explained that the case was undetected and there was no evidence of Mr [Carl] Beech’s sexual abuse in his father’s military records,” he said. “Undetected is a classification for a crime when viable lines of inquiry have been exhausted and we have not been able to identify the offender or offenders.”

The trial has heard that Beech claimed he was ferried from school as a child to locations where he was raped and sexually abused by a gang of up to 20 men including Savile – who died in 2011 – and unnamed high-ranking Saudi diplomats.

Asked by Tony Badenoch QC, prosecuting, whether Beech provided him with any further names of perpetrators, Lewis replied: “I didn’t recall anything of the sort, no.” He added: “I had no further information provided to me in relation to names.”

The court heard that Beech’s stepfather’s military records, which Wiltshire police obtained, detailed that the major had a history of alcoholism and domestic violence, including against the defendant’s mother.

Maj Beech was discharged from the army in April 1977 after being diagnosed with a personality disorder that led to him being “dangerously explosive” in his actions, the court was told.

Asked whether the military records contained anything concerning sexual abuse, Lewis told the court: “There was no complaint of sexual assault or abuse.”

Lewis said he was later contacted again by Beech, who said he was going to apply for criminal compensation. Lewis said he filled out the relevant police sections on the application form but did not go into detail with Beech about how to complete the form. “It’s not something I would do,” he said.

Lewis confirmed it was a common feature of historical abuse investigations for supporting evidence to be difficult to find because of the time elapsed. Collingwood Thompson QC, defending, asked if it was not uncommon for no further action to be taken, to which Lewis replied: “Either no further action or undetected, yes.”

Beech made further allegations to the Metropolitan police in 2014, saying he had been abused by a murderous VIP group including the former prime minister Edward Heath, the former home secretary Leon Brittan, Field Marshal Lord Bramall and the former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor, among others.

Beech faces 12 counts of perverting the course of justice from December 2012 to March 2016, and one count of fraud over a £22,000 criminal compensation payout he received.

He is accused of making a false allegation of witnessing the murder of a child by Proctor and is falsely claiming to have witnessed the murder of two other children.

On Wednesday the court was told that Beech himself was a “committed and manipulative paedophile” who at the same time as he was claiming to police to be a victim of abuse viewed indecent images of young boys and covertly recorded a child using the toilet.

The trial, which is expected to last up to three months, continues.