Lord Janner prosecution: NSPCC head demands that child abuse case against Labour peer be reopened

Lord Janner will not stand trial, despite there being enough evidence to charge him with 22 child sex offences, because of the severity of his dementia

Janner was an MP in 1991 when he was accused of child abuse by the paedophile Frank Beck (PA)

Pressure is mounting on the Director of Public Prosecutions to reopen the child abuse case against Lord Janner, after a detective claimed he was ordered to drop his investigation because the accused was an MP.

Earlier this month the DPP, Alison Saunders, announced that Lord Janner would not stand trial, despite there being enough evidence to charge him with 22 child sex offences, because of the severity of his dementia.

The head of the NSPCC is so angry at the decision that he has sent a stinging letter to Ms Saunders, asking why she did not choose to instigate a no-fault trial of facts, often used when the accused has mental health problems. This would mean that Lord Janner could not be found innocent or guilty, but a court would decide on the facts of the case – whether any offences had been committed.

The NSPCC’s chief executive, Peter Wanless, says in the letter that “given the exceptional historical mistakes in this matter, I would like to understand why you did not deem it in the public interest to have a trial of facts”.

He said the unintended consequence of leaving the cases untried could discourage other victims of child abuse from coming forward, “particularly if the accused sits in a position of influence or power”.

More than a dozen individuals have made allegations to police relating to Greville Janner. These relate to residents in children’s homes in Leicestershire in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lord Janner’s family maintain that he is “entirely innocent of any wrongdoing”.

A former detective inspector, Kelvyn Ashby, claimed that in 1991 he had found evidence to back up claims that Lord Janner, who at the time sat in the Commons, had molested a teenage boy in his home and at a hotel. But he alleged he was told “from the very top” to drop the case as the suspect was an MP.

“I felt we had enough to arrest him, but we didn’t because he was an MP,” the retired detective told The Mail on Sunday. “I think we should have done. I was gutted that we didn’t.”

Lord Janner was accused of earlier child abuse in 1991, during the trial of a notorious paedophile, Frank Beck. In his defence, Beck claimed he had tried to stop a 13-year-old boy in his care from visiting Lord Janner and called the alleged victim – who was by then 30 – as a witness. The man claimed that Lord Janner had befriended him and forced him to have sex.

No charges were brought against the peer, who has always strongly denied the allegations, and who claimed he had been framed by Beck. But it was claimed that officers had followed up on the allegations and that they had found evidence that was consistent with the alleged victim’s account.

“[We] believed ... once we arrested him we could search his house and see if there was any material that helped corroborate what the alleged victim said. Someone higher up told us we couldn’t just arrest an MP and it went no further … the order had to have come from the very top. I’m sure my bosses’ hands were tied.”

On 23 April Ms Saunders robustly defended her decision. “If somebody wants to challenge my decision, I’m not afraid,” she said. “I thought long and hard before making it and I’m confident I got it right.”