Cyril Smith’s abuse of children in London was allegedly covered up by Scotland Yard.

The claim is part of an investigation by the police watchdog into accusations that the Metropolitan Police hushed up child sex offences because of the involvement of politicians and police officers.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is to investigate 14 referrals detailing allegations of corruption in the Met in relation to child sex offences dating from the 1970s to the 2000s.

The allegations include suppressing evidence, hindering or halting investigations and covering up the offences because of the involvement of members of parliament and police officers.

One of the 14 allegations is a potential cover up around failures to properly investigate child abuse offences in South London and further information about criminal allegations against a politician being dropped.

READ:Rochdale MP calls for law to ensure 'no more Cyril Smiths'

The M.E.N. understands Smith is implicated in this allegation.

One source said: “A police officer saw him turn up in his Mercedes in Piccadilly Circus in the 1970s and young runaway boys get in. The officer then followed the vehicle to a flat in Lambeth.”

Another allegation is that an investigation into young men being targeted in Dolphin Square, a plush apartment block in Pimlico, popular with MPs was stopped because officers ‘were too near prominent people.’

The IPCC Deputy Chair Sarah Green said: “These allegations are of historic, high level corruption of the most serious nature.

“We will oversee the investigations and ensure that they meet the terms of reference that we will set.

"Allegations of this nature are of grave concern and I would like to reassure people of our absolute commitment to ensuring that the investigations are thorough and robust.”

The Met will carry out the investigation, supervised by the IPCC.

Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk, said: “Sadly I’m not surprised to hear the IPCC are investigating allegations of corruption within the Metropolitan Police.

"I have spoken to many survivors of child abuse and former police officers that have brought this to my attention and I’m pleased the IPCC are now investigating these claims.

“It’s important to stress that we’re talking about very serious crimes here, not minor offences. I’m of the view that it’s almost inconceivable the Metropolitan Police was not aware of allegations of child abuse featuring very prominent figures back in the 1970s and 80s.

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“This is a very significant investigation and is desperately needed to shine a strong light on the way some crimes were viewed in the past.

"It’s absolutely vital that the law in this country applies equally to everyone and we cannot have one section of society protected by police and able to commit terrible crimes with immunity.

“We are on the cusp of finding out what happened in the 70s and 80s. I feel sure that politcians were involved, and that there was a cover up.”

A Met Police spokesman said: “The Independent Police Complaints Commission have today announced they will manage the investigations by the Metropolitan Police Service’s directorate of professional standards, concerning historic allegations of impropriety by police officers when dealing with allegations of sexual abuse.

“The allegations emerged whilst officers were working on Operation Fairbank and relate to the period between 1970 - 2005.

“The MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) recognised the severity of the allegations, and the importance of understanding whether or not our officers had in the past acted inappropriately, and therefore voluntarily referred the 16 separate allegations to the IPCC.

“Ongoing investigations and recent convictions by officers from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command have shown that the MPS is fully committed to investigating non-recent allegations of sexual abuse.”