A witness in a Met Police investigation into historic allegations of child abuse claims they were approached by a Special Branch officer pretending to be Sunday People journalist.
Investigative journalism website Exaro News has been investigating allegations of child abuse involving a “VIP paedophile ring” which included former MPs and the late Jimmy Savile for just over a year.
These allegations have prompted Met Police investigations Fernbridge and Fairbank.
Exaro reports that one witness in these investigations was approached by an undercover officer from the Met’s special branch who claimed to be a journalist for the Sunday People.
Exaro editor Mark Watts told Press Gazette that in recent weeks there has been three suspicious approaches to witnesses in these cases from individuals claiming to be journalists.
One witness said they were doorstepped by someone claiming to be from the Sunday People, Watts said. He said the Sunday People told him the individual was not one of their journalists and that the witness was subsequently told by a police liaison officer that it was “someone from upstairs”. Watts said this was a reference to the Special Branch.
Watts said: “The suspicion is that a lot of these allegations were covered up in the past. Special Branch could be trying to find out what these people are saying and whether it might turn out to be embarrassing.”
A Met Police spokesperson declined to comment.
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