Image copyright PA Media Image caption Carl Beech denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud

A man accused of inventing a VIP paedophile ring lies as habitually as someone having a cup of tea every morning, a court has heard.

Carl Beech, 51, is on trial over claims he was a victim of an alleged paedophile network made up of high-profile figures from politics, the military and intelligence agencies.

Prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC also said Beech was a "sophisticated paedophile".

Beech denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud.

During a nine-week trial, the jury heard that Beech has admitted downloading indecent images of boys and filming a child using the toilet.

In his closing remarks at Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Badenoch said: "The defendant Carl Beech is a sophisticated paedophile. I make no apology for saying it, the evidence proves it.

"At some stage Carl Beech appears to have convinced himself that such behaviour is acceptable for whatever purpose he had.

"Spying on children, covertly filming (a child), gathering literally hundreds of images of the rape and abuse of children, each of them a criminal offence."

Beech's allegations, which included a claim that three young boys were murdered, led to a £2m Metropolitan Police investigation between 2014-2016 that ended with no further action being taken.

Mr Badenoch said Beech, from Gloucester, operated under different names at different times.

He listed some of them as Lucy Samuels, his pen-name for a book on nursing, "Nick" the name used by the police and media, his Twitter personas, and identities he used whilst hiding from the Swedish authorities.

"He presents himself at any given moment as he chooses to at that point in time," Mr Badenoch told the court.

"False identities, creating fictional people, pretending to be someone else, but all the while knowing very well that he was doing it, because he did so consciously, and being prepared to tell deliberate lies about the same.

"That sort of conduct in the life of Carl Beech was as habitual and easy as starting the day with a cup of tea might be to some of you."

'Shifting, shuffling, and lying'

Beech, from Gloucester, accused Field Marshal Lord Bramall, a former head of the British Army, of being involved in the paedophile ring.

During the trial, the jury saw a video of his police interview in which the peer banged on the desk as he insisted he had no sexual interest in children.

Mr Badenoch said: "Lord Bramall answered all questions fully and truthfully, gave details, spoke about his life, spoke about things intimately personal to him.

"Compare what he was to say and the manner in which he was to say it, to this defendant, shifting, shuffling and lying, and deceiving and dancing and twisting and twirling and running."

Image copyright CPS/PA Wire Image caption Lord Bramall was interviewed by police in April 2015 when he was 91

He said Beech picked out Lord Bramall - and his fellow generals Sir Roland Gibbs and Sir Hugh Beach - among his abusers after choosing his late step-father, who was a Major, as the "entry point" to the rich and powerful.

Mr Badenoch said that while Major Beech was a violent person, there was no evidence he had sexually abused his stepson.

"The defendant's word on this topic is hopelessly discredited because he cannot get his story straight," he said.

The trial continues.