In the mid-1990s, a
supermarket carrier bag full of correspondence and news cuttings were handed to the editor, Robert Edwards. The purpose of
which was for Mr Edwards to write a booklet on the subject of the contents, ultimately to be printed by the late South Coast
printer, Tony Hancock.
The correspondence consisted largely of letters exchanged between Frank Beck and Sid Chaney while the former was
detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure, convicted for the sexual abuse of young boys. During this time, a vast amount of
statements had been collected, including the testimony from one 15 year old boy who had been regularly abused by Greville
Janner MP, including buggery in the swimming pool of a plush hotel.
Frank Beck had been a manager at a number of boys homes in and around
Leicester and became acquainted with Greville Janner, a Labour MP, whose constituency, Leicester West, was in the area. Janner
was predatory and got what he wanted. He believed himself to be above the law.
Beck claimed his innocence all along, protesting that it was Janner
who abused several boys in the homes managed by Beck. He had become the fall guy or patsy, he said in these letters. The persecution
of Frank Beck was to be a diversionary means of throwing everyone off the scent leading to the real perpetrator, Greville
Janner. This was the basis of Beck’s defence. Statements from abused boys backed up this claim.
Sid Chaney was active in the
National Front in the 1970s and a notorious pederast himself. A Searchlight booklet described Chaney as “unfit
to be near any young boys”, which Chaney considered to be potentially libellous. He had befriended Beck and wrote to
him often.
An
attempt by some of Chaney’s friends (also ex-far right activists) at initiating litigation against Searchlight
was met with a response from Sonia Gable and her lawyers. Chaney’s friends were no match for this as they had opted
to represent themselves, believing it would save them the considerable cost of employing trained lawyers.
Chaney lost and was ordered
by the judge to pay costs, including those of the Searchlight Educational Trust of which Sonia Gable was a director. But I
digress.
The
contents of this carrier bag revealed so much detail regarding Janner’s serial sexual abuse, with dates, places and
the nature of the sexual acts, that a case against him indicated irrefutable guilt. Letters to Chaney, included.
Mr Edwards got down to writing
the narrative of what was thought to be potential political dynamite.
Janner was also director of the Holocaust Educational Trust and therefore
in a position of eminence within the Jewish community. This is also of considerable significance, given the powerful
influence of Jewish organisations like the Board of Deputies. They always protect their own.
The booklet was eventually printed by Tony Hancock
in large quantities. Boxes of them were then placed into the hands of a team in East Kent prepared to travel to Leicester
and distribute them in nearly every address of social agencies, police stations, political parties, religious groups and so
on.
This
was met with a virtual wall of silence, the police investigating in 1991 then dropping it soon after. The exception was a
scene in the House of Commons where a large number of MPs expressed solidarity with the dishonourable pederast member and
decided to draw a line under it.
The police were then very reluctant to pursue the matter further. This was at a time when such matters were often
brushed under the carpet. Jimmy Savile and a den of other predatory DJs had nothing to fear, either.
It is only recently that the nature of police
investigation into child sex abuse has taken a different and more positive course.
When the Labour MP and well-known actor, Andrew Faulds died, among
his possessions was a copy of the booklet. This was to be handed over to the police on the strength of the nature of its contents.
The police investigations was
launched this time with more victims of Janner coming forward. Frank Beck had long since died in prison. The booklet was now
taken more seriously by the police, as are all sex cases.
No one came to Janner’s defence this time round apart from members of his
own family who claimed he did none of the filthy things he was accused of back in the 1990s. Well, they would say that, wouldn’t
they?
The
strength of the evidence against him meant the police were to go for Janner, now 86, but the Director of Public Prosecutions,
Alison Saunders, pulled the rug under the police with the excuse that Janner was not fit to stand trial owing to an illness,
Alzheimer’s disease.
This is how the
DPP described reasons for letting Janner off the hook: “Lord Janner would not be tried over child sex allegations as
he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease that he could not understand any charges against him, let alone answer
them”. There is enough evidence to charge him with 22 offences against children from 1969 to 1988.
This is sexual abuse on a grand scale.
The claim by the DPP that Janner is not all there does not hold water when we consider several
recent actions taken by him. First of all, he transferred ownership of a £2 million home near Hampstead Heath to his
children, Laura Janner-Klausner, along with Marion Janner and Daniel Janner. This strongly suggests that Janner anticipated
being found guilty after a trial and thus he wanted to avoid paying out hefty compensation to his many victims.
Now here’s the rub. According
to a Land Registry official involved in the transfer, the transfer document clearly stated the transfer was not for money
with the conveyancing process requiring Janner to be of sound mind. If this is the case then the DPP has made a whopping mistake.
In other words a whitewash of a man who holds a high position within the Jewish community who knows exactly what he is doing.
Janner was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2009, six years
ago. It is a degenerative disease but the sufferer’s condition can be stabilised with medication. I would suggest he
was sufficiently stabilised in medication in the early stages, sufficiently stabilised to perform
other highly responsible tasks. For example, claiming more than £100,000 in parliamentary expenses and, very recently
in April of this year, signing a letter to state he wished to continue in the House of Lords.
All of these activities require a man to be
of sound mind, even with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease controlled by medication. Transferring a valuable property,
incidentally the same property that was raided by the police in 2013, claiming inflated expenses from the House of Commons
and signing a document to remain in the House of Lords require an awareness of all that is going on around him.
His victims deserve a lot better,
Alison Saunders.
A solicitor from Slater and Gordon representing many of the victims of Janner’s perversion stated, “They
will be asking how a man who lacks the mental capacity to stand trial has sufficient capacity to give valid instructions to
transfer his assets. It will be of great concern to them to see what may be their last opportunity to achieve any sort of
justice deliberately obstructed. The court would be asked to look at any transactions undertaken in recent months which could
constitute efforts to defraud potential creditors”.
Further, another solicitor, Peter Garsden, representing other victims claimed,
“Obviously, it puts obstacles in the way. There must be suspicions about the intention of the transfer [the deeds of
the £2 million home]. It would be looked on very critically by a court of law”.
There is a different culture now than that which
prevailed, say, in the 1970s and 1980s. Gone is this misplaced deference that protected the high and mighty, misnamed “the
great and the good”.
The Crown Prosecution Service should have cleaned up its act but suspicion and doubt is now rife again due entirely
to this decision to let Janner off the hook.
The victims are now suffering a different kind of pain through this denial of justice.
Now, Members of Parliament are
demanding answers to some awkward questions in contrast to the disgraceful scenes when some rallied round the pervert in the
House of Commons. Both police and victims are united in seeking a redress with Janner in the dock.
This may still happen. Civil cases are being
prepared now, with the object of the victims receiving considerable compensation.
Land Registry files reveal that Janner’s
£2 million home was owned by him since 1988 and has not been sold. Transferring ownership to his children may prove
to be his undoing in this case. It is almost an admission of guilt.
Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, should think
again or resign.
copyright ©RJH 2015
Published in ESA No
56 - Spring 2015
