Seven MPs are calling for a major official inquiry into allegations that child abuse was carried out by “VIPs” at London children’s homes.
They asked Home Secretary Theresa May to appoint a panel to investigate suspicions of an establishment cover-up to protect prominent people.
The panel could demand papers relating to lost or missing evidence, including police surveillance tapes allegedly showing well-known figures visiting a home to abuse boys and a dossier by the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens that was handed to the Home Office but cannot be traced.
The historic cases include the Elm Guest House in Barnes, and homes in Norbiton, Weybridge, Petersham, Hackney, Lambeth and Islington.
Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith, who organised the letter, said: “Very serious questions around Elm Guest House, in my constituency, have gone unanswered for so long that many have simply concluded that the authorities aren’t interested in uncovering answers. It surely makes sense for the Government to establish a defining, properly resourced and all-encompassing inquiry, in which victims and the public can have confidence, and that can help us draw a line.”
The MPs include former children’s minister Tim Loughton, Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who wrote a book about the abuse perpetrated by late MP Sir Cyril Smith, Green leader Caroline Lucas and Labour MP Tom Watson.
In the letter to Mrs May, the MPs said: “We are writing to ask you to set up a full, properly resourced investigation into the failure of the police to follow the evidence in a number of historical cases of child sexual abuse.
“We would ask you to set up an independent panel, similar to the inquiry you established into the Hillsborough tragedy, with powers to demand the release of all and any material from every agency involved.”
