Leon Brittan’s widow blasts police watchdog over how it has yet again ‘failed’ victims of Scotland Yard’s disastrous VIP abuse inquiry

Leon Brittan’s widow has launched a stinging attack on the police watchdog over how it has yet again ‘failed’ victims of Scotland Yard’s disastrous VIP abuse inquiry.

Lady Brittan made her comments as the tenth anniversary of the worst Met investigation in living memory approaches.

She said the hold-ups in bringing gross misconduct proceedings against the gaffe-prone officer who led Operation Midland were ‘deeply troubling’.

Delays in the case against ex-Met deputy assistant commissioner Steve Rodhouse by the watchdog – the Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) – ‘raise serious questions about the effectiveness of the disciplinary system’, she added.

For nearly a decade, Operation Midland has been mired in allegations of criminality, misconduct and incompetence, yet not one officer involved in the fiasco has been held to account.

Lady Brittan said the delays in bringing gross misconduct proceedings against the gaffe-prone officer who led Operation Midland are ‘deeply troubling’

Lady Brittan, whose husband was a respected former Tory home secretary, issued a withering statement a fortnight after it emerged that Mr Rodhouse had been awarded a £10,000 pay rise, taking his salary to nearly £200,000. He has also received a huge boost to his near-£3 million pension pot, newly published documents revealed.

The pay increase makes him one of Britain’s highest-paid law-enforcement figures, despite being removed as director-general of operations at the National Crime Agency (NCA) because he faces a disciplinary hearing.

Despite the gravity of the allegations, Mr Rodhouse has not been suspended by the NCA but allowed to continue in a non-operational ‘strategic’ role. He is the highest-paid NCA officer, earning more than his boss, director-general Graeme Biggar.

It is 15 months since the IOPC announced that Mr Rodhouse would face a gross misconduct charge over allegations that he lied in public at the conclusion of Operation Midland.

Yet no date has been fixed for a tribunal hearing. The controversy comes two years after MPs demanded a shake-up at the IOPC after a string of scandals.

The decision to instigate disciplinary proceedings against Mr Rodhouse followed an explosive Mail investigation.

The decision to instigate disciplinary proceedings against Steve Rodhouse (pictured) followed an explosive Mail investigation 

Mr Rodhouse led the disastrous probe into the lies of a fantasist known as ‘Nick’ – real name Carl Beech (pictured) – whose wild accusations of an establishment paedophile ring were deemed ‘credible and true’ by the Met

At the behest of shamed ex-Met chief Cressida Dick, he led the probe into the lies of a fantasist known as ‘Nick’, real name Carl Beech, whose wild accusations of a murderous Establishment paedophile ring were described as ‘credible and true’ by the Met.

The investigation launched in 2014 severely damaged the reputations of innocent public figures, including ex-Armed Forces chief Field Marshal Lord Bramall, Lord Brittan, ex-PM Sir Edward Heath and former MP Harvey Proctor.

The £2.5million inquiry closed in March 2016 with no arrests or charges and Beech was later jailed for 18 years for perverting the course of justice, fraud and child sexual offences.

Last night, Lady Brittan told the Mail: ‘The delays in resolving the Rodhouse case are deeply troubling and raise serious questions about the effectiveness of the police disciplinary system.

‘Operation Midland has been a stain on the Metropolitan Police for a decade, and those who

suffered are still waiting for someone to be held to account. The IOPC has failed again.’

Mr Proctor – paid £500,000 compensation by the Met – said: ‘What adds insult to injury is the complete lack of transparency surrounding the inordinate delay of Mr Rodhouse’s hearing.’

The IOPC apologised for the delay, and said ‘gross misconduct papers’ were served last month.

The Met has told the Mail that Simon Chesterman, chief constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, will lead the hearing.