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“Beech caused unimaginable distress to the men he falsely accused and all the families caught up in his deception. Many of the accused were dead and unable to defend themselves,” said Liz Reid of the Crown Prosecution Service.

“Beech’s actions betray true victims, who should never be afraid of coming forward to reveal abuse.”

The case first began to make headlines after lawmaker Tom Watson — now the Labour deputy leader — rose in the House of Commons in October 2012 to say he had seen “clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No. 10 (Downing St.).”

Beech, who was known by the pseudonym of “Nick,” later told detectives he had been abused at military locations and at apartments close to parliament, and also said the pedophile gang had murdered three young boys.

He then made further explosive allegations about some of the people he claimed had abused him and others. They included: Edward Heath, a former Tory prime minister, Leon Brittan, a former Cabinet minister, former army chief Edwin Bramble, Maurice Oldfield, the ex head of MI6, Harvey Proctor, a well-known MP, as well as other lawmakers and military figures.

When the allegations were first made, police described them as “credible and true.”

Det. Supt. Kenny McDonald, the officer in charge of Operation Midland, the investigation into the pedophile ring, said, “Nick has been spoken to by experienced officers from the child abuse team and from the murder investigation team and they and I believe what Nick is saying is credible and true.”