Former MP hits back at Operation Midland as he reveals being questioned over alleged murder of three boys as part of inquiry into establishment child sexual abuse ring

A former Conservative MP has accused police of a witch-hunt after disclosing that he has been questioned over the alleged murder of three boys supposedly linked to an “elite Westminster sex ring”.

Harvey Proctor said the Metropolitan police’s Operation Midland inquiry team, set up to examine claims that boys were systematically abused by an establishment paedophile ring, should be wound up and its head be put in charge of parking offences.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Proctor added that he had been accused of being part of a child sexual abuse ring along with the late prime minister Edward Heath, ex-home secretary Leon Brittan and former heads of MI5 and MI6. The allegations were based on the testimony of an anonymous witness that Scotland Yard had previously described as being “credible and true”.



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Proctor said he was “completely innocent” of accusations of murder, rape and torture of children as he unveiled the allegations being investigated by Operation Midland detectives.

He said he should either be charged with murder or his accuser should be stripped of his anonymity and charged with perverting the course of justice.

His statement is the first detailed response from anyone investigated by Operation Midland in connection with claims of years of child sexual abuse by a paedophile ring made up of men from politics, the military and law enforcement agencies.

The accuser, known only as Nick, has told police that the former MP was part of a group of men who abused him over a decade from 1975, according to Proctor’s statement. He claimed Proctor was directly responsible for the murders of two boys and implicated in the death of a third.

During one alleged sexual assault, he is said to have claimed, Proctor was persuaded not to cut off Nick’s genitals with a penknife only by the intervention of Heath, who was said by the witness to have been present during the sex attack at a large townhouse in London.

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Proctor, 68, said he and Heath detested each other because of their political differences, despite a shared party allegiance. He said it was unbelievable that he would have been invited to the former prime minister’s home to take part in a sex attack.

“It is unbelievable because it is not true. My situation has transformed from Kafkaesque bewilderment to black farce incredulity,” he said.

In a document Proctor says was sent to him by police before his interviews, Nick accused him of stripping and strapping a child to a table, before stabbing him all over his body during a 40-minute attack.

Proctor’s statement said he and another man were accused of raping a boy before the former MP strangled him until the boy’s body went limp. He was accused of punching and kicking another boy to death.

The MP claims he was also accused by Nick of being involved in attacks at Dolphin Square, the residential block close to parliament that is popular with MPs, and at the Carlton Club.

Proctor has been questioned twice. In March, detectives raided a series of properties linked to suspects, including his home on the Belvoir castle estate in the east Midlands.

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“I denied all and each of the allegations in turn [to police] and in detail and categorised them as false and untrue and, in whole, a heinous calumny,” said Proctor’s statement. “They amount to just about the worst allegations anyone can make against another person.”

He added: “I am a homosexual. I am not a murderer. I am not a paedophile or pederast.”

Proctor claimed Brittan had been driven to his death by police action. “In summary, the paranoid police have pursued a homosexual witch-hunt on this issue, egged on by media, Labour MPs and a ragbag of internet fantasists.”

He said Labour MPs, led by Tom Watson – the favourite to become the next deputy leader of the party – had acted disgracefully over their pursuit of establishment figures allegedly linked to a child sexual abuse ring, and challenged them to sue him for saying so.



Watson, who has campaigned for justice for child sexual abuse victims, rejected Proctor’s claims that his efforts were motivated by party politics and said he had not used parliamentary privilege to name any suspect. It is understood that Watson has never mentioned Proctor’s name to the police.

He said in a statement: “’It is not for me to judge the innocence or guilt of Harvey Proctor. That is for a jury to do, if the police inquiry yields sufficient evidence to bring a case to court.

“I don’t regard allegations of child abuse as a party political matter and I’ve worked with members of all political parties to help bring about the Goddard inquiry into child sexual abuse. I have never used parliamentary privilege to name anyone accused of child abuse.”



Proctor also accused the Met of leaking information to the media and called for police to stop referring to people making allegations of historical child sex abuse as “victims”, and instead call them “claimants”.

He was a Conservative MP in Essex from 1979 to 1987 and left the Commons after pleading guilty to acts of gross indecency with a man he said he wrongly believed was over 21. The age of consent has since been lowered.

The allegations

At the press conference, Proctor listed nine allegations of murder, torture and rape against him which he claims are being investigated by Operation Midland and have been passed to his solicitors. He said they came from the witness known as Nick and are untrue.

The allegations are:

● In 1980, Proctor is accused of stripping and tying a boy to a table in a house in central London, stabbing the child through the arm and the body over 40 minutes, before raping and killing the boy through strangulation. Nick claims to be a witness to the murder.

● In a London home between 1981 and 1982, Proctor is accused of anally raping Nick at a party before being joined by two other men who then punched and kicked an alleged victim who is believed to have died.

● In Kingston upon Thames, between May and June 1979, Nick claims he witnessed a boy being run down and killed by a car, and believes Proctor was part of the group responsible for the killing.

● Proctor is accused of raping Nick with several other males in Dolphin Square between 1979 and 1984.

● He is alleged to have opened the door to the exclusive Carlton Club when Nick was taken there by a rapist between 1978 and 1981.

● Proctor is accused of raping Nick at a swimming pool party in central London between 1978 and 1981.



● Between 1981 and 1982, Proctor is accused of forcing Nick to perform oral sex in a large townhouse in central London. On another occasion, Proctor is also accused in the same venue of producing a penknife and threatened to cut Nick’s genitals.

● Between 1979 and 1984, Proctor is accused of forcing Nick to perform oral sex before beating him with punches at a central London address.

● Over the same period, at locations including the Carlton Club, a flat in Dolphin Square and a central London home, Proctor was alleged to have been present at Christmas parties with Nick. At one of these parties, he is alleged to have forced Nick to perform oral sex.