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January 6, 2020updated 30 Sep 2022 8:46am

Tom Watson says ‘sorry’ for getting ‘too close’ to child abuse probe and ‘accepts mistakes’ over Carl Beech

By Freddy Mayhew

Tom Watson has denounced jailed fantasist Carl Beech, who made up claims about a VIP child sex ring, as a “cruel hoaxer” and said sorry for getting “too emotionally close” to the UK child abuse inquiry.

The former deputy leader of the Labour Party was heavily criticised for his part in encouraging Beech to report his allegations of child sex abuse and murder – later proven to be lies – to the Met Police in 2014.

Using the pseudonym “Nick”, Beech falsely accused a number of high-profile figures, including former politicians Leon Brittan and Harvey Proctor, of being part of a paedophile sex ring operating in Westminster.

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