News / Human Rights

Tory MP escaped sex abuse trial in 70s

Saturday, 16 May 2015 12:04 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 16 May 2015 12:05 PM ]

Police and prosecutors let accused MP off with caution when he promised not to see his sex victim again.

Some newly released files suggest that a senior Conservative politician escaped prosecution for child abuse in the 1970s when he promised the authorities he would not see the victim again.

According to the files released by the National Archives, Victor Montagu, a right wing Tory MP was let off with a caution by the director of public prosecutions in 1972 for indecently assaulting a boy for nearly two years.

The decision by Sir Norman Skelhorn QC meant Montagu never stood trial and his paedophile activities were never exposed.

“The assaults, which are admitted, are not of themselves very serious, and if Mr Montagu is prepared to take the excellent advice given to him by Det Ch Insp [Jack] Newman and avoid any contact with the boy in the future I do not think that proceedings are called for,” a letter from prosecutors states.

Montagu was a leading figure in the establishment. He was an MP for South Dorset from 1941 to 1962 and became a member of the Monday Club, a right wing political pressure group in the 1960s. He inherited his father’s seat and became the 10th Earl of Sandwich in 1964, a title he renounced to stand for parliament again as an independent.

Skelhorn also ruled out a prosecution of the Liberal MP Cyril Smith in 1970 for indecent assaults on children after a police file was sent to him from the Lancashire constabulary.

Montagu died in 1995 but the files on his case, which reveal that a prosecution against him for indecently assaulting a young boy was not pursued, have been kept secret for more than 40 years. They were released earlier this week after an application under the Freedom of Information Act.

MH/MH

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