Police Apology Over Lord Brittan Rape Case
The Metropolitan Police says Lord Brittan should have been informed the case against him had been dropped before his death.
Friday 16 October 2015 14:10, UK
Scotland Yard has apologised to the wife of Lord Brittan for not telling the dying Tory peer that a rape allegation against him had been dropped.
Lord Brittan died of cancer in January 2015 but by that time the Crown Prosecution Service had decided there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecution.
The Metropolitan Police accept now that they should have told the former Conservative cabinet minister that he had no case to answer.
The force says at the time it was still trying to convince the CPS to reconsider its decision, so it believed the case had not been concluded.
The initial allegation of rape was made by a woman to South Yorkshire Police in November 2012. The incident was alleged to have occurred in London in 1967 and so was passed to the Metropolitan Police to investigate.
Lord Brittan was not told of the allegation and never interviewed. But a file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for 'Early Investigative Advice'. This allows prosecutors to provide guidance and advice in serious, sensitive or complex cases.
But the CPS decided that that no further action should be taken and the alleged victim was told in September 2013.
In February 2014 the woman met the investigating officer and expressed unhappiness that Lord Brittan had not been interviewed.
The alleged victim felt her claims had not been properly investigated because the case involved a senior politician.
This was reported in the media and her case taken up by Labour MP Tom Watson who wrote a letter to the Director Of Public Prosecutions asking why the case had been dropped.
A review of the case in May recommended that Lord Brittan should be interviewed under caution. The peer denied the offence.
By November the same year the police formally submitted a file to the CPS requesting a review of the evidence. But this was almost instantly rejected and the alleged victim was informed.
In a report on the handling of the case the MPS said: "It was felt that these were highly unusual circumstances where the previous independence of the police to tackle sexual offending by VIPs had been publicly called into question.
"A decision to take no further action in respect of this allegation would undoubtedly have resulted in media criticism and public cynicism, and there was clearly a very strong public interest in ensuring that the correct decision had been made.
"Lord Brittan could not therefore, at that point, have been informed that no action was to be taken in respect of this allegation."
But the police force now accepts that it made a mistake.
It concludes: "The MPS accepts that Lord Brittan's solicitors should have been informed at the same time as the complainant was informed.
"This would have permitted them to clarify the position with Lady Brittan, for which the MPS apologised in a letter to her solicitors on 6 October 2015."