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A royal was in a suspected paedophile ring being investigated by police before an Establishment cover up, it was claimed.

A former Metropolitan Police officer said he was told a member of the Queen’s family and an MP had both been identified as part of a major child abuse inquiry.

But the operation is said to have been shut down by the Crown Prosecution Service for national security reasons.

The claim came as the Met’s deputy assistant commissioner made a fresh appeal for victims of historic child sex abuse to come forward, and vowed: “We’ll go where the evidence takes us.”

The ex-officer told the Sunday Mirror how a named detective sergeant based at London’s Marylebone police station in the late 1980s spoke to him about the investigation and the fact it had been axed.

The former officer said: “I was in a car with two other vice squad officers. They were discussing a madam who had provided a girl of about 15 to Oliver Reed.

“The detective sergeant said he had just had a major child abuse investigation shut down by the CPS regarding a royal and an MP.

"He did not mention names, but he said the CPS had said it was not in the public’s interest because it ‘could destabilise national security’.”

The former officer added: “What I was told has stayed with me to this day.”

The Sunday Mirror has been given the names of his two colleagues and the officer we spoke to said he was passing his information to the police.

Sir Allan Green, Director of Public Prosecutions, when the probe was said to have been axed, told us he was not aware of any paedophile investigations shut down for national security reasons.

But he said had been asked by a “senior person” if he had heard anything about an MP being involved in child abuse. He said he had not.

Sir Allan would not name the MP, but said he has since died. He refused to say what year he was approached or if the interrogator worked for the CPS.

Reed was never prosecuted over underage sex. The probe into the madam was separate to the paedophile ring.

(Image: PA)

Meanwhile the Met again insisted it was pursuing claims of abuse no matter who was said to be involved.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse said: “We have seen lots of allegations of cover-ups, and I think it’s helpful people are coming forward. We will go where the evidence takes us, without fear or favour, I think that is what the public expect.”

Last week it was announced the Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating 14 separate referrals spanning four decades, amid cover-up claims.

The claims - referred to the IPCC by the Met – allege the force suppressed evidence, hindered or halted investigations and covered up offences because of the involvement of MPs and police officers.

Sarah Green, deputy chairman of the IPCC, said: “I would like to reassure people our investigations will be thorough and robust.”

Former Met deputy commissioner Albert Laugharne said that, while head of Lancashire police, he had been asked by a DPP officer to lie about allegations involving the late Lib dem MP Cyril Smith, later unmasked as a paedophile.

A surveillance operation that unmasked Leon Brittan’s links to child sex abuse is said to have been shut down by Met detectives.

The Sunday Mirror revealed earlier this year how the former Home Secretary was snapped by officers during a 1986 investigation into rent boy orgies run in North London buildings.

But the day before swoops on alleged suspects were due to be carried out, officers on Operation Orchid were told it had been disbanded.

Now the Sunday Mirror and Exaro, a news investigation website, can reveal this is among 14 cover-up allegations against the Met passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

A police source told Exaro: “I am surprised this did not happen much earlier.”

Paedophile MP Cyril Smith and top judges were also believed to have been photographed entering the underage sex dens. Sources claim up to 16 high profile figures were due to be arrested.

Brittan was under investigation by the Met over sex abuse allegations at the time of his death in January.

Earlier this month, detectives raided two of his homes.