Lord Janner inquiry: 'Never appropriate' to interview ex-MP over abuse claims

Lord Janner, who was a Leicester MP, died in 2015

A retired police officer said it was "never appropriate" to interview an ex-MP about allegations of child abuse.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) heard reports against Greville Janner were made to officers investigating children's homes in Leicestershire.

James Wynne said Leicestershire Police officers "weren't in possession of all the information required" at the time.

Lord Janner, who died in 2015, denied all charges against him.

The Lord Janner case

• Lord Janner was the subject of child sex abuse allegations dating back to 1955

• Three police investigations took place in the 1990s and 2000s, but no charges were brought

• Following a fourth inquiry, he was charged in 2015 with offences against nine alleged victims. Police say 40 people accused him of abuse

• The peer, who suffered from dementia, was ruled unfit to plead, and died aged 87 before a trial of the facts could take place

• An independent inquiry in 2016 found that the three earlier investigations were "missed chances" to prosecute him

• Nine of Lord Janner's accusers began the process of suing his estate for damages

• Three dropped their cases in March 2017 and the remaining six two months later

The inquiry heard evidence relating to Operation Magnolia, which began in 2000.

Detectives tried to trace 12 people who had been in care in the 1980s to ask if they had been abused, with three former residents telling officers they had been abused by Lord Janner.

It was another 15 years before the peer was charged with some of those offences, but when the allegations first emerged he was not interviewed.

Officers were told he was outside the operation's parameters and one boy said he was not allowed to make formal complaint, the inquiry heard.

Operation Magnolia ended without any charges against Lord Janner or the care home staff, but an officer told the inquiry there was "an underlying feeling" among some officers that he "should have been on trial".

However, Mr Wynne - a retired detective sergeant who worked on the operation - said officers never had enough information to justify interviewing the peer, with one witness' account "largely discounted" because of concerns about his credibility.

"We hadn't identified secondary disclosures, we hadn't identified the premises, we hadn't identified other people that may have been at particular premises at particular times, and so on," he said.

Richard Keenan, who also worked on Operation Magnolia, denied complaints about Lord Janner were "put in a bottom drawer", but in a statement read on his behalf he said he did "sense a hesitancy to proceed against such a high-profile individual solely on the evidence we had to hand".

"It is clear that in a post-[Jimmy] Savile world, there would have been less hesitancy in progressing these allegations," the statement said.

The inquiry continues.