Met Police sex abuse 'cover-up' inquiry extended

Three new claims of Metropolitan Police corruption over child abuse are to be managed by the police watchdog.

The latest allegations include one that an investigation in London was dropped on the orders of a senior Met officer.

The abuse in that case was said to have been carried out by MPs, judges, actors and clergy, among others.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is already managing 14 referrals of alleged Met corruption, which were announced on 16 March.

The Met said it had voluntarily referred those allegations, which arose from an investigation it launched in 2012.

That investigation, known as Operation Fairbank, is looking into historical child sex abuse claims involving politicians and other public figures.

All the allegations referred to the IPCC date from the 1970s to the 2000s.

The police watchdog will also now manage an investigation into an allegation that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) failed to adequately investigate an incident involving former Liberal MP Cyril Smith.

A former GMP officer has said he was threatened with the Official Secrets Act after finding Smith, who died in 2010, with two teenage boys in Stockport in 1988.

The three new referrals are:

• An allegation that a child abuse investigation in central London gathered evidence against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, actors, clergy and others. The file was submitted to start proceedings against those identified and, it is alleged, two months later an officer was called in by a senior Met officer and told to drop the case

• Two allegations about police actions during a child abuse investigation in the 1980s. Further details of these have not been given

The Met said it would not be commenting on the new referrals.

The IPCC is also assessing a further six referrals it has received from the Met relating to "similar matters".

It is managing the investigation, which was already being conducted by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards into the alleged corruption.

The 14 allegations already under investigation include a claim that an investigation into young men being targeted at flats in south-west London was halted because "officers were too near prominent people".

They also include claims that no action was taken after a document from the Houses of Parliament was found at a paedophile's address, linking "highly-prominent individuals" - including MPs and senior police officers - to a paedophile ring.