Robert Hannigan, head of the GCHQ intelligence agency, stepped down in 2017 after the National Crime Agency discovered he helped a gay pedophile family friend with an interest in baby rape images avoid a custodial sentence four years earlier

British Prime Minister Theresa May is being accused of covering up the scandal

23 February 2019

Prime Minister Theresa May was last night accused of a cover-up over the scandal as she knew of GCHQ director Robert Hannigan’s connection to the child sex offender when he stood down in 2017. At the time, Mr Hannigan had cited ‘family reasons’, with this crucial link kept secret.

The high-flying civil servant, who was lauded for his role in striking peace in Northern Ireland, stunned everybody with his exit after just two years in charge of GCHQ.

GCHQ is the British equivalent of the NSA.

In his resignation letter to Boris Johnson, who as then Foreign Secretary had oversight of GCHQ, Mr Hannigan wrote:

‘After a good deal of thought I have decided that this is the right time to move on and to allow someone else to lead GCHQ through its next phase’ Mr Johnson replied: ‘You have led the renewal of some of our most important national security capabilities. I wish you the very best for your future career.’

The Daily Mail has learned he stepped down after the National Crime Agency (NCA) - a sister intelligence agency - discovered that he helped a close pedophile family friend avoid a custodial sentence for possessing 174 child pornography images.

After Mr Hannigan provided a character reference for Father Edmund Higgins at his 2013 trial, the priest’s eight-month sentence was suspended. The judge said Higgins had ‘struggled with his sexuality’. But Higgins went on to reoffend, and during an NCA probe his links to Mr Hannigan were discovered and the Prime Minister was alerted.**

With the Prime Minister’s blessing, Hannigan was allowed to resign on January 23, 2017, citing family commitments.

Anonymous briefings were given to the media that he would be caring for sick relatives. That same year, Theresa May said: ‘The sunlight of transparency acts… as an important check and balance, and helps ensure the highest standards of public life among senior Government representatives.’

Last night Mr Hannigan, who began to train as a priest before joining the civil service, confirmed that Higgins had been a family friend for two decades. But he admitted his ‘judgment was completely wrong’ in providing the character reference.

After his conviction, Higgins, who had served at St Elizabeth’s Church in Richmond, South-West London, was defrocked and changed his name to Edmund Black, but continued to offend.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that Theresa May was alerted in early 2017 that the NCA was investigating Higgins as part of a major probe into online chatrooms that hosted abuse of babies. His connection to Mr Hannigan was highlighted to figures at the very top of Government, including the Prime Minister.

Mr Hannigan offered to step down to avoid dragging GCHQ into the scandal, but the significant reason behind his departure was never made public. Even senior officials within the Foreign Office, GCHQ and Cabinet Office were unaware.

Robert Hannigan’s meteoric rise to the top of the British Establishment began with an ingenious diamond table that helped unlock power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

During testy negotiations in Belfast in 2007, Republicans demanded they must sit next to Unionists, but they in turn demanded they must sit opposite their former adversaries.

As an adviser to Tony Blair, Mr Hannigan came up with a diamond-shaped table that allowed the key players to sit both opposite and next to each other, breaking the deadlock.

He quickly rose up the diplomatic ranks, counselling Gordon Brown and David Cameron on security affairs, before being appointed head of the country’s largest spy agency GCHQ, with a seat on Whitehall’s all-powerful Joint Intelligence Committee.

At the time, Mr Hannigan was named the country’s third most powerful Catholic by religious newspaper The Tablet.

Before entering the Civil Service, Mr Hannigan trained to be a priest at Allen Hall seminary in Chelsea. But friends say he ‘fell in love and could not go down that path’.

It was through his wife that he first met Father Edmund Higgins, a notorious paedophile.

Mr Hannigan has since gone on to take a host of jobs in the private sector, commenting publicly on national security and most recently defending Chinese technology firms.

Last night, Scottish National Party MP Pete Wishart said the ‘shocking episode reeked of a cover-up’, adding: ‘The Prime Minister is immersed in this up to her eyes.

‘No 10 must give a full account of what they knew, when they knew and why they have failed to do so before. The Prime Minister must come to the Commons tomorrow and explain the Government’s role in this appalling episode.’

Government insiders said in Mr Hannigan’s defence the truth was not revealed because the investigation into Higgins was still active. Higgins’s home was raided by the NCA the following January.

However, the truth remained classified long after Higgins was charged. He was jailed for 31 months in June 2018 in a case the NCA described as ‘horrendous’.

They had caught Higgins boasting online of his sexual interest in babies and he later confessed to possessing and making child abuse images.

Oh, and he got only 31 months in prison? Amazing...

He visited chatrooms when child sex abuse was being shown, and in May 2016 he hosted a chatroom where nine videos were played showing horrific child abuse, with one victim thought to be just three months old.

When his house was raided, the NCA found more than 800 illegal images, 201 of which were in the most severe category.

Even while he was on bail he returned to the depraved online forums to reoffend.

After his conviction, senior NCA officer Martin Ludlow said: ‘Every time these horrendous images are shared that child is victimised… [Higgins] has shown no remorse. He went out of his way to encourage others to view and share images.’

Mr Hannigan has since gone on to a lucrative career in the private sector.

He said last night: ‘Mr Higgins had been a close family friend for 20 years. After he pleaded guilty to child sexual imagery offences in 2013, we submitted a character reference on our knowledge of him to the court in good faith. ‘His subsequent criminal actions appalled us and have shown that our judgment was completely wrong. When I later became director of GCHQ, all the correct steps were taken in relation to my involvement in this case and this was verified by Government lawyers. This is a personal family matter. We will not be making further comment.’

Well, actually it isn't a 'family matter' at all. It's a scandal that the British Government has never revealed why Hannigan had to step back. And why have so many members of the British Establishment pedophile friends?

Source. (Edited by OP)

“GCHQ is using its world-leading capabilities to help the NCA reach into the dark web and bring to justice those who misuse it to harm children. With the NCA, we are committed to eliminating digital hiding places for child abusers.” (Robert Hannigan in 2014, one year after he helped his pedophile friend)

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