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Story Update: July 26, 2019
Carl Beech Jailed for 18 Years
Judge tells Carl Beech to stand up: he sentences him to 18 years in jail. He sets the tariff at half that time.
— Mark Watts (@MarkWatts_1) July 26, 2019
Judge tells Carl Beech that he is a “manipulative” and “devious” person, who carried out online research to help fabricate his story, “It was all a fabrication… Your actions traduced reputations.” and “you have maintained your lies and false accusations in this court.”
Judge does not accept that Beech has shown any remorse for his offences.
Judge tells Carl Beech to stand up: he sentences Beech to 18 years in jail. He sets the tariff at half that time.
Carl Beech sentenced to 18 months consecutively for fraudulent compensation claim to Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).
Carl Beech sentenced to 18 months consecutively in total for the four charges of downloading/posessing indecent images of children and one of voyeurism.
Carl Beech sentenced to two months concurrently for breaching bail conditions by absconding.
This sentence for Carl Beech includes: 15 years concurrently for each of the 12 charges of seeking to pervert the course of justice, meaning 15 in total.
In summary, the judge has handed Carl Beech a prison sentence of 18 years, of which he must serve at least 9.
“Take him down,” judge added.
The End.
Story Update: July 22, 2019
Carl Beech is Found Guilty on All 13 Counts
Carl Beech, a compulsive liar, convicted paedophile and fantasist has been found guilty on all counts at Newcastle Crown Court today. Beech will be sentenced for these counts and previous counts relating to child porn images offences on 26th July, 2019. The prosecution is seeking to freeze Beech’s assets and obtain a confiscation order relating to the fraudulent compensation claim.
The guilty counts :
- GUILTY – Made a false allegation of witnessing the child homicide of an unnamed boy committed by Harvey Proctor
- GUILTY – Made a false allegation of witnessing the homicide of a boy called Scott
- GUILTY – Made a false allegation of witnessing the homicide of another boy
- GUILTY – Falsely alleged that he had been sexually and physically abused by a paedophile ring, with senior military officers, military intelligence, a TV presenter and other unidentified men accused as members
- GUILTY – Falsely alleged that he had been sexually and physically abused by a paedophile ring, with politicians accused as members
- GUILTY – Provided a list of sexual abusers and locations falsely alleging he had been physically and sexually abused by said abusers at said locations
- GUILTY – Provided sketches of locations at which he claimed he had been abused, falsely claiming he had produced them from memory
- GUILTY – Provided the name Aubrey, falsely alleging Aubrey had been present and subjected to physical and sexual abuse when with him
- GUILTY – Provided a pen knife and two military epaulettes falsely alleging he had retained them from when he was abused as a child
- GUILTY – Falsely claimed that he had been seriously injured by sexual and physical abuse inflicted as a child
- GUILTY – Falsified a ‘Proton’ email account, and provided false information purportedly sent from ‘Fred’, an individual he had claimed was present when he was abused
- GUILTY – Went together with investigators on site visits and falsely alleged that it was at locations identified by him during those visits that he had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse by a paedophile ring
- GUILTY – Falsely claimed £22,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority saying he was subjected to abuse by a paedophile ring, knowing this to be untrue and intending to make a gain for himself
The man formerly known as ‘Nick’ who claimed he was a victim of an alleged “Westminster Paedophile Ring” had his real identity revealed as Carl Stephen Beech, after a judge lifted reporting restrictions.
Beech triggered Operation Midland, a huge Metropolitan Police investigation costing £2.5 million (US$3.2 million) in the UK after alleging MP’s and others had run a VIP paedophile ring, making allegations against politicians Sir Edward Heath, Lord Brittan and Harvey Proctor and the ex-chief of the defence staff, Lord Bramall.
Ordinarily UK victims of rape and sex crimes are guaranteed anonymity for life from the date of complaint but in some circumstances, judges may lift these restrictions, such as when the complainants themselves are charged with an offence.
In July 2018, Beech was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service and is now accused of lying about witnessing former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor murdering a child, as well as lying about two other killings of young boys and denied a total of 12 charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, as well as one count of fraud, when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on Monday, December 3.
The fraud charge accuses Beech of making a £22,000 (US$27,677) fraudulent Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claim.
No pleas were entered and Beech will stand trial on May 7, 2019. The hearing will take place at Newcastle Crown Court and is likely to last six to eight weeks.
Beech’s trial will follow the public Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) hearings related to “Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse linked to Westminster” that are scheduled to be heard throughout March, 2019.
Carl Beech Trial Updates
Mr Beech, formerly from Gloucester and known as “Nick” when he first made the claims, was in Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday for the start of his trial. Beech is accused of lying about “three child murders, multiple rapes, kidnapping, false imprisonment and widespread sexual abuse”.
He claimed that he was first sexually abused by his stepfather, Major Ray Beech, when he was seven years old and went on to allege abuse by a group of public figures, including from politics and the military.
Among those he accused was former Conservative prime minister Sir Edward Heath, ex-Tory home secretary Lord Brittan, former head of the armed forces Lord Bramall and former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor.
The jury was told Mr Beech picked his “targets” after browsing the internet.
Detectives investigated Mr Beech’s claims until 2016 when they asked another police force – Northumbria – to investigate the accuser himself. Northumbria Police found his story to be “totally unfounded, hopelessly compromised and irredeemably contradicted”, the court heard.
Prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC told the jury: “It is quite impossible to conceive of allegations of a worse kind to be made.”
He said “immeasurable distress” had been caused to those accused and those close to them – and they had suffered “obvious reputational damage”.
Mr Proctor has spoken freely in public to defend himself against the allegation that “he is a sadistic child killer and that he committed other serious sexual offences”, the court heard.
Jurors were told that, as an entirely innocent man, Mr Proctor was “still enraged”.
Both Mr Proctor and Lord Bramall had their homes searched as a result of the allegations.
Lord Bramall’s wife died during the police inquiry – codenamed Operation Midland – and Lord Brittan died while under investigation.
Parties where abuse happened
Mr Beech claimed the abuse happened after school, when he was picked up by a driver and taken to “parties” where there were 10 to 15 men and around seven or eight boys.
Mr Beech “claimed that he was the victim of much of the abuse and he was a direct witness to the killing of three young boys”, the court was told.
Mr Beech told police that he witnessed Mr Proctor killing a boy.
Jurors heard how Mr Beech alleged that at an army location, the former head of MI5, Michael Hanley, and the former head of MI6, Maurice Oldfield, subjected him to torture.
Mr Beech claimed he had spiders tipped on him, electric shocks and darts thrown at him.
The prosecutor said Mr Beech had described to police “the most horrific sexual and physical abuse”, but that his medical records could not substantiate the claims.
And the court heard that the defendant’s ex-wife, whom he married in his early 20s, did not notice any marks on his body and saw nothing physical that supported his claims of electric shock treatment nor any savage abuse.
The court was played a video interview Mr Beech had given to the Met Police in November 2014, during which he cried as he described details of the first alleged murder.
He claimed a schoolmate called “Scott” was deliberately run over in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1979.
The court heard Northumbria Police concluded “there is no supporting evidence whatsoever” to support Mr Beech’s account about Scott.
Prosecutor Mr Badenoch told jurors: “There was no such homicide. No missing boy.”
Mr Beech also claimed that one of the boys he witnessed being murdered was Martin Allen, a 15-year-old boy who went missing in London in 1979 and has not been seen since, jurors heard.
Martin Allen’s brother Kevin was contacted by Scotland Yard in 2014 and told his brother may have been linked to a VIP paedophile ring.
Mr Badenoch said: “The source of that false hope to Kevin Allen, 35 years after his brother went missing, was ultimately the false allegations of this defendant, Carl Beech.”
And jurors were also told that Mr Beech had claimed he had a lifelong fear of water and could not swim, because aspects of the alleged abuse involved being held underwater and thrown in a pool.
But, the prosecutor said, police found photographs and videos of him swimming all over the world over several decades, ranging from with children at theme parks, to honeymoon snorkelling for shells, and at a pool with flippers, mask and snorkel.
It was “an adult lifetime of swimming memories”, Mr Badenoch said.
Beech Fled to Sweden
The court heard how the Met Police spent £2m on their investigation into Mr Beech’s claims and described them publicly as “credible and true”.
He first contacted Wiltshire Police in 2012 with allegations of abuse by his stepfather as well as Jimmy Savile. Between 2014 and 2016 he made further allegations to the Met Police, with a list of alleged abusers.
In 2016, when that investigation ended with no further action, police began investigating Mr Beech himself.
Police searched Mr Beech’s Gloucester home in November 2016 and seized several electronic devices.
During their investigation, a number of Mr Beech’s claims “were found to be provably false”, the court heard.
“He had lied about the content of these allegations, taken active steps to embellish a false story, and then cover his tracks when challenged,” Mr Badenoch said.
When questioned by police about this, he “fled the country and lived overseas as a fugitive” before being located in Sweden.
Nick bought a property in a remote forested area of northern Sweden in Overkalix, and then a second in Sleddo, #NickTrial hears. Prosecutor plays drone footage to jury of second property.
— Mark Watts (@MarkWatts_1) May 15, 2019
The jury also heard that Mr Beech’s former teachers had said he had good attendance – contrary to his claims of being taken out of lessons to be abused.
Sports Car Purchased With Fraudulent Funds
Nick “made money by making a fraudulent claim for criminal injuries,” prosecutor tells #NickTrial. He received £22,000 and used £10,000 of it as a deposit for a convertible car, he says.
— Mark Watts (@MarkWatts_1) May 15, 2019
Newcastle Crown Court heard today that a white car was found at Beech’s home in Gloucester, the deposit paid directly from cash he received from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) after falsely claiming he’d been abused.
Prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC said Beech’s motives for purchasing the flashy car were unclear but “others have said that he craves attention”.
He said Beech got £22,000 in April 2015 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority following his false claims and the £10,000 cash deposit for the sports car “identifiably came from that fraudulent claim”.
He added that Beech was “heavily indebted and spending beyond his means” with holidays to Sweden and America, and that he intended to become an international speaker on the subject of abuse survivors.
He told the court Beech was an attention seeker who “liked an audience”, saying “This may be a useful starting point in this case. Carl Beech spent around twenty hours making these allegations in recordings with the Metropolitan Police. He therefore had an audience”.
Fictitious Fred
The jury also heard Beech invented a witness with the codename Fred and produced a string of bogus emails to support his false claims.
Beech, said Fred suffered abuse alongside him, but Fred was actually a figment of his imagination, according to prosecutors, and his email account originated with Beech.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Beech agreed to act as an intermediary between investigating officers from the Metropolitan Police and Fred.
Officers received emails from the bogus witness on an encrypted account, which appeared to support Beech’s claims.
But 18 months later when Beech himself became the focus of an investigation they were found to be an elaborate sham, jurors were told.
When Northumbria Police were called in to investigate Beech as a suspect in 2016, their detectives traced the email account to Proton Technologies in Geneva, Switzerland, encrypted email account software which Beech knew how to use.
They quickly discovered the account was registered with the address beechfamily1@gmail.com and realised it was Carl Beech who had created the Fred email address, the court heard.
During the correspondence Fred revealed himself as being called John. Mr Badenoch said Beech had modeled Fred on John Prance, who was best man at his wedding.
Beech’s wife Dawn left him before the police investigations began, the court heard.
Mr Badenoch said Mr Prance matches the description of the person being given the pseudonym ‘Fred’ but had never witnessed any abuse nor been the subject of any abuse.
Badenoch said: “This of course all adds up to a straightforward conclusion. There was no John abused with “Nick” in the way he alleged. He was a fabrication from beginning to end.”
Prosecutor tells #NickTrial that defendant “has an interest in child pornography. Not something which is learnt behaviour from something which happened, but the reverse.”
— Mark Watts (@MarkWatts_1) May 15, 2019
VIP Accuser is a “Committed and Manipulative Paedophile”
VIP sex ring accuser Carl Beech is “a committed and manipulative paedophile, capable of deceit to investigators and limitless manipulation” the jury at his trial were told today.
The court heard the former nurse pleaded guilty at a separate trial after Northumbria Police seized devices at his home and found indecent images of young boys, covert images of boys taken by him, and recordings.
Prosecutor Tony Badenoch said: “These child sex offences were committed whilst he was speaking to investigating police officers.”
Referring to the alleged crime of making and possessing indecent images of children and voyeurism, based on indecent images of children found on devices in Beech’s Gloucester home, prosecutor Tony Badenoch said: “At the same time as he perpetuated these lies about Harvey Proctor and so many others, he was also viewing indecent images of the gravest kind and spying on small boys.
“He had installed on his iPad a secret App in the form of what looked to all and intents and purposes like a calculator.
“Only it wasn’t. Two codes led investigators to the content behind the calculator image. What was that? Indecent images of young boys of the most serious kind.”
He said Beech had been prosecuted for this crime separately, pleading guilty after initially contesting the charge and attempting to blame someone else. The process took 18 months, including the time Beech was a fugitive abroad.
He said: “This evidence demonstrates that Carl Beech is a committed and manipulative paedophile, capable of deceit to investigators and limitless manipulation when required.
“The sort of individual concerned only for himself, unconcerned with the impact on others; whether it is falsely accusing them of heinous crimes or seeking to attribute blame to another for child pornography.
“It also demonstrates that Carl Beech has an interest in child pornography. Not something which is learnt behaviour from something which happened, but quite the reverse.
“He watches child pornography concerning boys, possesses it, records young boys covertly, and writes about it over hundreds of pages. It all suggests that he also wants to be a part of it, and so he also talked about it to the Metropolitan Police, intending for them to take it seriously and enable him to continue to do so.”
Beech Named Suspects “after he saw reporter’s photos”
The former nurse met the Labour deputy leader, Tom Watson, a retired social worker, Peter McKelvie, and a journalist, Mark Conrad, in the months before he came forward to the Metropolitan police in October 2014, a court heard.
Beech emailed Detective Sergeant James Townly, of the Met’s specialist operations unit, in October 2014 claiming he could help with the force’s investigation into high-ranking paedophiles operating out of Dolphin Square in London.
Beech asked if they could meet with Conrad present as he was nervous and needed to feel safe. The court heard they met at a Gloucestershire police station for up to 30 minutes where Beech said he had been undergoing therapy since 2012 and was ready to speak again to police. Beech gave the detective a list of typed names, some of which were underlined.
In a recorded police interview conducted later that month, Beech said he had learned of a survivors website, The Tangled Web, and had begun blogging about his own experiences. He said he had been careful not to “name names”.
Conrad had seen the posts and contacted the site to obtain Beech’s details, and the pair had met in London after Beech had read previous Exaro stories. He wanted to know if there were other victims, Beech told police.
“Peter McKelvie and Tom Watson also formed part of a little group that was supporting me and put my information out there to encourage other people to come forward, hence the piece they did on Dolphin Square,” he said.
Beech said he met Watson in his office and spoke to him at length. Though he described the experience of dealing with Conrad as positive, Beech found it “incredibly frustrating” as the reporter was aware he could not share certain information with him, the court heard.
The detective agreed with Beech that journalists had to protect the integrity of the investigation, adding: “It’s quite lucky someone like Mark is aware of that.”
Conrad showed Beech photographs of people “to see if there was anyone that I recognised”, the former health worker explained in the interview.
Beech told Townly: “He did not go into any detail and the fact that there would be lots of them, but it was something they had to do in a particular way, that he couldn’t be there whilst I did it.
“Then I was just asked to mark on them if I recognised them, and if I did recognise them and they took part in the abuse. Then he had a whole bunch of photos that I just looked through.”
Beech added: “I picked them out, I didn’t know either their first name or their surname, some of them I knew what they did. That made a difference. He [Conrad] has not told me how he has found out who they were.
“It really helps me because it fills another blank, it just puts another piece of the jigsaw in place, but it’s annoying and he knows that.”
In his recorded interview with DS Townly, Beech also claimed he was tortured by Savile and the heads of MI5 and MI6.
Beech said his feet were jabbed with sharp objects and burned with a lighter, his head was held underwater and he was given electric shocks. Spiders were also tipped over him during the abuse sessions, giving him a fear of the creatures.
Beech described the gang as “sadistic”, adding: “They were trying to find new ways to inflict pain, terror, fear. Some of them liked to see me and others in pain.”
He said “Michael and Maurice” – who the jury has previously been told were Michael Hanley, the former head of MI5, and Maurice Oldfield, the former MI6 chief – would “instigate things”.
“They would tell the others what to do, but they wouldn’t do it themselves,” he said. “Jimmy Savile was nasty, but I only met him a couple of times.”
The trial has heard how Beech alleged he was abused by a murderous VIP group that included the former prime minister Edward Heath, the former home secretary Leon Brittan, Field Marshal Lord Bramall and the former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor, among others.
Sir Edward Heath’s Yacht
Beech allegedly claimed ex-prime minister Sir Edward Heath had sexually abused him on his yacht, and claimed he remembered the vessel Morning Cloud was large and white, but was unsure where it was moored.
He told Detective Sergeant James Townly of the Metropolitan Police that he was sexually assaulted in one of the cabins, which he said were basic and not luxurious. Beech told the detective in October 2014: “He touched me, I didn’t have to do anything to him, I just lay there.”
Beech was able to recall to police that the yacht had a tilting cooker, but could not remember where it was moored or even whether it was in a marina, the court heard.
The court was also told today how Beech claimed Mr Heath had to step in to stop an MP seriously harming him. Beech told the Met Police that ex-Basildon and Billericay MP Harvey Proctor wanted to ‘cut his genitals’ with a knife and liked to ‘strangle’ him while forcing him to perform sex acts.
He also claimed the late former home secretary Lord Brittan was “sadistic” and said the politician would “hold his head underwater” while abusing him.
Beech made the claim a few minutes after telling a police officer his dog had been kidnapped in a plot orchestrated by the former head of MI5.
The interview in October 2014 was filmed with some clips shown to the jury today.
Beech told Detective Sergeant James Townly that Harvey Proctor, now 72, was the most violent of the abusers he called ‘The Group.’
He said: ‘He had a little pen-knife, he wanted to cut my genitals, he was stopped by one of the others.
‘He was not happy, he was so angry, he did not like being told what to do.and he gave me that knife as he left.
‘He put it in my trousers and said: ‘Next time you will not be so lucky’.’
Detective Sergeant Townly asked him: ‘Who is he?’
Beech answered in a low voice: ‘Harvey. Harvey Proctor.’
DS Townly asked: ‘Who stopped him?’
Beech said: ‘One of the others, it was not the only time he was stopped.’
The 51-year-old also alleged Proctor forced him to perform sex acts while being violent.
He said: ‘He was not like the others, it was fun for him to choke you so you just couldn’t breathe.
‘Strangle. He just liked to strangle, he liked to hit. Anything that caused additional pain, physical pain.
‘He liked knives. He was probably one of the youngest of The Group but he did not like being told what to do.’
He was asked again who told him [Proctor] what to do and Beech replied: ‘The only one person I remember was Edward, just him. Harvey wanted to do more and Edward would not let him.’
DS Townly asked: ‘Who is Edward?’
Beech replied: ‘Edward Heath. He told him and he did not question that but I saw what harm he was capable of, I was on his hit list and he did not like me at all.’
Detective Sergeant Townly asked him to tell him more about Proctor but an emotional Beech began to break down and replied: ‘I can’t, I just can’t.’
The trial continues, updates to follow.
The 13 Charges Against Carl Beech
Carl Beech denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and a count of fraud.
The charges allege Carl Beech:
- Made a false allegation of witnessing the child homicide of an unnamed boy committed by Harvey Proctor
- Made a false allegation of witnessing the homicide of a boy called Scott
- Made a false allegation of witnessing the homicide of another boy
- Falsely alleged that he had been sexually and physically abused by a paedophile ring, with senior military officers, military intelligence, a TV presenter and other unidentified men accused as members
- Falsely alleged that he had been sexually and physically abused by a paedophile ring, with politicians accused as members
- Provided a list of sexual abusers and locations falsely alleging he had been physically and sexually abused by said abusers at said locations
- Provided sketches of locations at which he claimed he had been abused, falsely claiming he had produced them from memory
- Provided the name Aubrey, falsely alleging Aubrey had been present and subjected to physical and sexual abuse when with him
- Provided a pen knife and two military epaulettes falsely alleging he had retained them from when he was abused as a child
- Falsely claimed that he had been seriously injured by sexual and physical abuse inflicted as a child
- Falsified a ‘Proton’ email account, and provided false information purportedly sent from ‘Fred’, an individual he had claimed was present when he was abused
- Went together with investigators on site visits and falsely alleged that it was at locations identified by him during those visits that he had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse by a paedophile ring
- Falsely claimed £22,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority saying he was subjected to abuse by a paedophile ring, knowing this to be untrue and intending to make a gain for himself
Carl Beech Trial – Press Coverage
One of the first things anti-establishment conspiracy theorists always complain about in a case like this is “lack of media coverage” so let’s put that one to rest, there has been plenty of media coverage:
Daily Mail
Former MP Harvey Proctor weeps in court as he dismisses claims from ‘fantasist’ known as Nick that he murdered and sexually abused children and slams police who called them ‘credible and true’
Dolphin Square swimming pool sketch provided by ‘fantasist’ known as Nick matched location featured in Culture Club video, VIP sex ring trial hears
D-Day hero Lord Bramall slammed the ‘uncorroborated, monstrous’ sex abuse claims made by fantasist ‘Nick’
‘Fantasist known as Nick’ told police ex-PM Edward Heath molested him
VIP paedophile ring ‘fantasist’ brought misery to high-profile political …
Prosecutor slams ‘fantasist “Nick’s” false claims’ of murder …
Detective Kenny McDonald who said VIP sex abuse claims …
BBC News
Abuse claims ‘ridiculous’, ex-Army chief told police
Harvey Proctor: Murder and abuse claims ‘horrendous’, says former MP
Ex-wife of abuse accuser Carl Beech ‘first heard claims on TV’
Child abuse accuser Carl Beech a paedophile, court told
Carl Beech ‘did not know’ alleged abusers’ names
Carl Beech: Accuser of ‘VIP paedophile ring’ named
Carl Beech told ‘extraordinary tale’ of VIP paedophile ring
The Independent
Carl Beech trial: No evidence in Westminster paedophile ring accuser’s first claims, jury told
Evening Standard
Carl Beech trial: Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor condemns VIP Westminster abuse ring accusations as ‘ravings of a fantasist’
Carl Beech trial: First investigation found no lines of inquiry into VIP paedophile ring
Carl Beech trial: VIP abuse accuser ‘Nick’ made ‘totally unfounded claims’
Sky News
Ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor calls child murder claims ‘ravings of a fantasist’
‘Lying’ Carl Beech fed police ‘extraordinary tale’ of VIP Westminster paedophile ring
Westminster VIP abuse accuser Carl Beech ‘is committed paedophile
Westminster VIP abuse accuser Carl Beech claimed he was targeted by Jimmy Savile
The Telegraph
Harvey Proctor says allegations he was part of Westminster sex ring are ‘polluted ravings of a fantasist’
Nick – the man who ‘invented’ murderous Westminster VIP child abuse ring – is a paedophile himself
Man known as ‘Nick’ filmed crying as he falsely tells police of murdered schoolmate
The Guardian
Carl Beech schoolmate says he cannot recall any hit-and-run attack
Carl Beech trial: ex-wife ‘confronted him after Panorama appearance’
VIP abuse accuser gave police list of suspects ‘after he saw reporter’s photos’
Westminster VIP abuse accuser ‘fled to Sweden when story collapsed’
Man who sparked VIP abuse ring inquiry is paedophile, court told
ITV News
Man accused of lying about VIP abuse ring is ‘committed and manipulative paedophile’
The Times
Carl Beech trial: claim that MI5 chief abducted dog
Twitter Hashtags
#NickTrial (Mark Watts – Former Editor-in-Chief of Exaro)
#CarlBeech (Mainstream Media)
