Beech convicted on Monday of 12 counts of perverting course of justice and one of fraud

The devastating toll of false claims made by a former nurse who fabricated allegations about a murderous VIP paedophile ring in Westminster has been laid bare as he was jailed for 18 years.

In emotional impact statements read to a court from Carl Beech’s victims and their families, the serial accuser’s “monstrous” allegations of child rape and murder were labelled “smears of the very worst kind”.

The 51-year-old, previously known as “Nick”, was found guilty on Monday of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud following a 10-week trial at Newcastle crown court.

His false allegations – in which he accused an establishment group of abusing, kidnapping, torturing and murdering boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s – led to a multimillion-pound Scotland Yard inquiry that ended without making a single arrest.

Beech claimed the gang of abusers included the former prime minister Edward Heath, the D-day veteran Lord Bramall, the former home secretary Leon Brittan, and the ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor. Others accused of abuse were the former head of MI6 Sir Maurice Oldfield, the Labour peer Greville Janner and the former head of MI5 Sir Michael Hanley.

He also fraudulently claimed £22,000 in compensation for his false claims of abuse, using some of the money to put down a deposit on a Ford Mustang.

When his story began to unravel, Beech – who admitted hoarding hundreds of child abuse images and secretly filming a teenager using the toilet in a separate case – fled to Sweden before being captured. Beech showed no emotion he was led from the dock.

Sentencing him on Friday, Justice Goss said: “I’m quite satisfied that you are an intelligent, resourceful, manipulative and devious person.”

In hard-hitting comments, he told the court Beech’s false claims had undermined the situation for those who have genuinely been abused. He told Beech he must serve half of his total sentence behind bars. The length of the sentence prompted gasps from the public gallery, while Beech stood motionless in the dock.

In a powerful statement read on his behalf, 95-year-old Bramall – a former head of the British army – recalled the impact the “monstrous” allegations had on him and his legacy.

“In service of my Queen and country I have done all that has been required of me,” Bramall said. “I have suffered both physically and emotionally as a result and did so without regret or complaint. I thought I could be hurt no more. I can honestly say, however, I was never as badly wounded in all my time in the military as I have been by the allegations made by ‘Nick’ that formed the basis of Operation Midland.”

He pointed out how his elderly wife, who was confined to her bed with dementia at the time their home was raided in 2015, died without knowing he had been cleared.

“I had seen my home searched by the [Metropolitan police]; been accused of heinous sexual acts against children; been linked to people who were accused of murdering children; had my family approached by members of the press in search of information for the ongoing media frenzy; watched my children lose their mother and worry about the impact of these allegations on their father; and seen my wife pass not knowing that I had been cleared of all wrongdoing.”

The widow of the former home secretary Leon Brittan, who died in 2015 with the allegations still hanging over him, also revealed the pain of Beech’s false claims, including how her children feared for her safety and that she had to hire security for her husband’s burial.

A statement read to the court on Lady Brittan’s behalf by the prosecutor, Tony Badenoch QC, said: “In the last year of his life – and particularly in his last few months – he had to face, while desperately ill, a series of entirely false allegations and smears of the very worst kind.

“Before he became the subject of heinous claims of child rape and murder by the man then known as ‘Nick’, he dealt courageously with various other entirely untrue claims of a sexual nature.

“I felt he was caught up in a totally unjustified witch hunt which took its toll on both him and me. The impact of these dreadful allegations on the entire global network of anyone caught up in such matters is indescribable, incalculable and unending.”

Proctor, accused by Beech of child rape and murdering two boys, fought back tears as he read his statement to the court. The 72-year-old former Tory MP, who said he lost his home, job and was forced to move to Spain because of the false allegations, described how he had “wounds that will never heal”.

“His allegations, following the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) involvement, were the worst that can be made: that I was a serial child sexual murderer, torturer and abuser,” Proctor said.

“I find it extraordinary that an institution which formerly I held in high regard, the MPS, allowed itself to lend weight to such false and incredible allegations.”

A statement on behalf of Heath’s godson, Lincoln Seligman, was also read in court. It said the late Tory prime minister “was always as he remains wholly and categorically innocent of these depraved and wicked accusations”.

Seligman said the “plainly ridiculous” allegations against his godfather “cast a dreadful stain on this country”.

He also criticised the Metropolitan police and politicians who “should be ashamed of themselves” for giving credence to Beech’s accusations. “It is unlikely this damage will ever be undone,” he added.

Daniel Janner QC – whose late father, the Labour peer Lord Janner, was also falsely accused by Beech – told the court: “It is impossible to get over the hurt which such ghastly alleged acts of violence have on a law-abiding family like mine. They are corrosive. They lie on the internet with ignorant people saying that there is no smoke without fire.

“We loved our late father, he never harmed anybody in his whole life. He died an innocent man, he was a force for good and justice so we fight back and we will not stop.”

Badenoch told the court: “In this case, the defendant’s conduct amounted to the cynical manipulation of the criminal justice system on an unprecedented scale.”

Collingwood Thompson QC, defending, argued that Beech had not made his allegations continuously, that rather than being sophisticated his claims were “incredible”, and there was never a “realistic prospect” of proceedings starting on the basis of them.

Beech’s 18-year sentence includes 15 years concurrently for the 12 counts of perverting the course of justice, plus 18 months consecutively for his fraudulent compensation claim. In addition, he was given 18 months consecutively in relation to a separate case in which he pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of making indecent photographs of children, one count of possessing indecent images of children and one count of voyeurism. He was given two months concurrently for breaching bail when he absconded to Sweden.

Scotland Yard has come under fire over its handling of the Operation Midland inquiry into Beech’s claims, in which the detective leading the investigation described his account as “credible and true” on TV news bulletins.

The deputy Labour leader, Tom Watson, who met Beech and encouraged him to report his allegations to the police, has also faced scrutiny for his role. Beech told the trial that Watson was part of a “little group” supporting him.

Beech had told the Metropolitan police in 2014 that his stepfather, Raymond Beech, sexually abused him and begun ferrying him to parties when he was seven where he was raped by a group of high-profile men. His claims, pushed by the discredited Exaro news agency, made headline news and featured prominently on the BBC.