The Elm Guest House was a hotel in Rocks Lane, near Barnes Common in southwest

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In a list produced by convicted fraudster Chris Fay, several prominent British men were alleged to have engaged in

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

and

child grooming Child grooming is befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a minor under the age of consent, and sometimes the child's family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse. Child grooming is also regularly ...

at the Guest House in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Labour MP Tom Watson, having heard testimony from Carl Beech, suggested in an October 2012 statement to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

that a paedophile network which had existed at this time may have brought children to parties at the private residence. During 2014 and 2015, allegations against several leading politicians of the period, mostly now deceased, were made public in the British press. Many of these claims were examined and discredited in an October 2015 episode of the BBC current affairs television programme, '' Panorama''. The role of the guest house became the subject of a Metropolitan Police Service investigation known as Operation Fairbank in late 2012. The purpose of this "scoping exercise" was to assess Watson's claims. As a result of allegations arising from Operation Fairbank, a full criminal investigation called Operation Fernbridge was launched in February 2013. No evidence of abuse connected to the Elm Guest House was uncovered, and the operation was closed in March 2015. Another investigation,

Operation Midland Operation Midland was a criminal investigation which the London Metropolitan Police carried out between November 2014 and March 2016 in response to false allegations of historic child abuse made by Carl Beech. The operation focused on investiga ...

, was set up to examine claims of possible murders. A subsequent inquiry found that those investigated by Operation Midland had been victims of false allegations. In November 2016, the then-Metropolitan Police commissioner,

Bernard Hogan-Howe Bernard Hogan-Howe, Baron Hogan-Howe, (born 25 October 1957) is an English former police officer and was the head of London's Metropolitan Police as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2011 until 2017. Born in Sheffield, Hogan-Howe ...

, made a personal apology to the innocent parties involved. In May 2019, Beech was placed on trial, charged with

perverting the course of justice Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Stat ...

and fraud, which he denied. Beech was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in jail in July 2019.

Elm Guest House

The three-storey Elm Guest House was in Rocks Lane, close to Barnes Common in southwest London. It had eight guest rooms, and its facilities included a

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, solarium and video studio. The

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house has since been converted into two-bedroom apartments, and the current occupants are not connected to the allegations. In the 1970s, Elm Guest House owners Haroon and Carole Kasir allowed

male prostitute Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male pro ...

s to take their clients to the establishment. A party was raided by the police in 1982 and the Kasirs were charged with running a disorderly house. The identities of the men who attended the party are not known and have been the subject of much speculation in subsequent years. By 2012, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' described the house as a "conspiracy theorist's dream". Carole Kasir died in 1990 at the age of 47; an inquest found that the cause of Kasir's death was suicide due to an overdose of insulin.

Background

History of claims

In 1990, according to journalist James Hanning, Chris Fay, a Labour councillor, convicted fraudster and a campaigner for the National Association of Young People in Care, claimed on oath that former Home Secretary

Leon Brittan Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 193921 January 2015) was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he serv ...

had been involved in abuse and that in March 1990 he had seen a photograph of Brittan with a young boy. He said the picture had been shown to him by Carole Kasir, co-owner of the Elm Guest House, who died weeks later. Fay alleged that children from the Grafton Close Children's Home in Richmond, southwest London, had told him they had been trafficked to Elm Guest House. He drew up a list of public figures that he said victims had told him had stayed at the Elm Guest House. The list included former government ministers, senior MPs, top police officers, judges, pop music stars, and people with links to the

Royal Households Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

. It was uploaded to the internet. Tom Watson, 2016 Labour Party Conference 2

In the aftermath of the

Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal It emerged in late 2012 that Jimmy Savile, an English media personality who had died the previous year, sexually abused hundreds of people throughout his life, most of them children but some as old as 75, and most of them female. He had been w ...

in October 2012, Labour MP Tom Watson said in the

he had evidence that there was a "powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and Number 10". Watson made his comments after having been passed information from the investigative news website

Exaro ''Exaro'' or ''Exaro News'' was a British website based in London between 2011 and 2016. It purportedly undertook political investigative journalism, but is now primarily known (together with its editor Mark Watts) for its direct involvement in ...

. With the public upset that Jimmy Savile was never properly investigated over his alleged crimes, the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Fairbank as a scoping exercise to examine Watson's claims. Watson set up a meeting with Fay and others to discuss the allegations in 2013 but Fay was dis-invited before the meeting after concerns were raised about his reliability. After the meeting, Watson was warned about the reliability of the accusations. In July 2014, a journalist from Exaro introduced Watson to Carl Beech, who falsely accused Brittan and others of abuse. Watson wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions to reopen a separate rape investigation into Brittan that police had previously closed after finding no evidence to support the claim and "glaring inconsistencies" in the accuser's account. Police ultimately decided that Brittan would face no further action but he was never told he would not be charged before his death in January 2015. After Brittan's death, Watson wrote a newspaper column in which he quoted Beech, calling Brittan "as close to evil as a human being could get".

Claims are challenged and discredited

In an edition of '' Panorama'' broadcast on 6 October 2015, a former Elm Guest House prostitute was interviewed who claimed that he was unaware of any MPs visiting the brothel. UK journalist John Oakes told them he had investigated Chris Fay's claims, but had never been able to find any "solid" information nor trace of photos Fay said he had seen. A man named Mark stated that he had been an abuse victim at Grafton Close but had never been to Elm Guest House and had never spoken to Fay. Another person interviewed by ''Panorama'' said they named Brittan as their abuser only after being pressured by Fay.BBC Panorama - The VIP Paedophile Ring: What's the Truth? (6 October 2015) - 14:49 to 20:38
iPlayer link
/ref> ''The Daily Telegraph'' later reported that Fay had been jailed for fraud in 2011. Fay said he regretted starting a "witch-hunt".Evans, Martin (7 October 2015)

''The Daily Telegraph''. London. Retrieved 2 September 2017. In late 2015, Watson was criticised for consistently refusing to comment after it was revealed that the police had been pressured into investigating rape allegations against Brittan by Watson. That November, Watson apologised to Brittan's widow and her family for the distress caused by the investigation. Metropolitan police commissioner

issued an apology of his own in February 2016 for mishandling the investigation.

Criminal investigations

Operation Fairbank

The police investigation known as Operation Fairbank was an umbrella inquiry first set up under conditions of secrecy in November 2012. ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published ...

'' reported that it focused on claims of

and the grooming of children, involving parties for men at the former Elm Guest House. Police also investigated historic allegations from the Grafton Close Children's Home. Operation Fairbank caused much speculation on the internet but did not uncover the alleged paedophile ring.

Operation Fernbridge

A full criminal investigation, Operation Fernbridge, was launched as a result of allegations that arose from Operation Fairbank. Operation Fernbridge investigated allegations concerning both Grafton Close children's home and Elm Guest House. Two men connected to the Grafton Close children's home: Tony McSweeney, a Catholic priest from Norwich, and John Stingemore, a former children's home manager, were arrested on suspicion of sexual offences and questioned by child investigation officers from Operation Fernbridge in February 2013. A trial against Tony McSweeney started at

Southwark Crown Court The Crown Court at Southwark, commonly but inaccurately called Southwark Crown Court, is one of two locations of the Crown Court in the London SE1 postcode area, along with the Crown Court at Inner London. Opened in 1983, the brick building is ...

in February 2015. However, John Stingemore was found dead at his home in January 2015 whilst still awaiting trial. McSweeney was later convicted of his charges and sentenced to prison. Although arrests from Operation Fernbridge did result in a conviction stemming from Grafton Close children's home, it did not expose abuse related to Elm Guest House. After McSweeny's conviction, Operation Fernbridge was closed and investigations related to Elm Guest House were taken over by Operation Athabasca. Metropolitan Police Commander Neil Jerome gave evidence on Operation Athabasca's findings to the

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in England and Wales was an inquiry examining how the country's institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. It was announced by the British Home Secretar ...

(IICSA) on 14 February 2019. Jerome concluded that "no credible victim has ever come forward alleging a specific offence suffered whilst at Elm Guest House" and that no prominent person had ever been conclusively identified as having abused a child there.

Operation Midland

In July 2014, Exaro began publishing articles in which Carl Beech, then known publicly under the pseudonym "Nick", falsely accused prominent men of having abused him. Four months later, Beech told Operation Fairbank detectives that he had been abused by a VIP gang of paedophiles for over a decade at various locations, including at the Elm Guest House and

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, and that he had witnessed them murder three boys. The murders of Vishal Mehrotra,

Martin Allen Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player. He played more than 100 games as a midfielder for both Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and ...

and another boy were subsequently investigated as part of

. Based only on Beech's claims, Operation Midland investigated

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...

, Edwin Bramall,

Harvey Proctor Keith Harvey Proctor (born 16 January 1947) is a British former Conservative Member of Parliament. A member of the Monday Club, he represented Basildon from 1979 to 1983 and Billericay from 1983 to 1987. Proctor became embroiled in a scandal i ...

and others. An inquiry conducted by

Richard Henriques Sir Richard Henry Quixano Henriques (born 27 October 1943) is a British retired lawyer and judge who was a Justice of the High Court of England and Wales. Early life and education Henriques was born in south Fylde, educated at Southdene, in So ...

found that those accused had been victims of false allegations and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hogan-Howe subsequently apologised to the living suspects (Bramall and Proctor) and Brittan's widow. In May 2019, Beech was placed on trial, charged with 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud, which he denied. Before his trial started, Beech pleaded guilty to

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...

offences. Beech had been viewing, downloading and creating child abuse images during the same period in which he had been lying to police. On 22 July 2019, Beech was found guilty of making up the Westminster VIP paedophile ring. He was jailed for 18 years on 26 July.

References

{{Child sexual abuse in the UK 2012 in the United Kingdom 2014 in the United Kingdom 2015 in the United Kingdom Conspiracy theories in the United Kingdom Edward Heath Jimmy Savile False allegations of sex crimes Police misconduct in England F Political sex scandals in the United Kingdom Scandals in England