Child abuse accuser Carl Beech a paedophile, court told

A man who accused multiple public figures of child sexual abuse is a "committed and manipulative paedophile", a court has heard.

Carl Beech has convictions for voyeurism and making and possessing indecent images of children.

Police discovered the offences after seizing devices from his home while investigating him for alleging abuse by public figures, jurors heard.

Beech denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud.

The 51-year-old's allegations, which included a claim that three young boys were murdered by members of a group, led to a £2m Metropolitan Police investigation between 2014-2016 that ended with no further action being taken.

Among those accused were 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.

Lord Bramall's wife died during the police inquiry and Lord Brittan died while under investigation.

The court was shown a 2014 police interview with Carl Beech

During the police probe, Beech set up a fake email account to help corroborate his story, the court heard on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC told the jury that in email correspondence with police officers, Beech pretended to be a man known by the pseudonym "Fred".

The defendant claimed Fred was abused alongside him as a child and had witnessed one of the alleged murders, the prosecutor said.

But when detectives from Northumbria investigated the email account, they found "the person behind the encrypted email account was Carl Beech", Mr Badenoch said.

'Images of the gravest kind'

Mr Badenoch said officers found "indecent images of young boys, covert images of school boys taken by him, and recordings" on Beech's devices.

"These child sex offences were committed whilst he was speaking to investigating officers," he continued.

"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."

Jurors heard he installed a secret app on his iPad that appeared to be a calculator, but contained indecent images of children of the "most serious kind" and a covert recording of a boy in a toilet.

Newcastle Crown Court heard he was prosecuted and initially pleaded not guilty, and in a police interview, sought to blame his teenage son.

He changed his plea to guilty after a jury had been sworn in.

The prosecutor said the defendant's convictions demonstrate "Carl Beech is a committed and manipulative paedophile, capable of deceit to investigators and limitless manipulation when required, including if necessary, framing his own child".

He said Beech was "the sort of individual concerned only for himself, unconcerned with the impact on others".

The court also heard that Beech craved attention, had written 150 pages of a memoir and planned to become an international speaker on "survivors".

He received £22,000 in compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority for the abuse he alleged, which funded a £10,000 cash deposit for a white Ford Mustang, jurors were told.

The court heard on Tuesday that when investigators later began looking into Beech himself, he fled to Sweden.

The trial for perverting the course of justice and fraud continues.