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I'm not an avid fan of the 'Daily Mail', but was very interested in the front page leader, which corelates with much of my thought about the credibility of some witnesses. 

Daily Mail - 6th September 2015. "Scotland Yard is under pressure to shelve its VIP paedophile murder inquiry after it emerged detectives had ‘grave doubts’ about the testimony of the key witness. Officers have not found a ‘shred of credible evidence’ to back up claims that a string of senior Establishment figures were responsible for murdering three boys in the 1970s and 1980s.Many detectives believe the inquiry – which has already cost the taxpayer more than £1million – is doomed and should be wound up."

Daily Mail Article

The allegations made by 'Nick' have ricosheted to triggering a judge lead inquiry (set up by Theresa May - the Home Secretary), linked to the  Dolphin Square apartments in central london, following the claim that 3 boys were murdered by MP's and other senior figures, involved with a sex ring, in the 1970's and the 1980's. 

We need sometimes to remind ourselves that police officers are only human. They are as easily duped as the rest of us, although they are rich in lifes experience, curropted by the negative and enlightened by the positive. Just like members of the public they are influenced by the impartiality of press and media reports, forming their opinions and judgements based on press hype. Those dealing with serious crimes, expecially the crimes bearing heavy consequence on a victim, are not robotic and can take a serious rebounding of their emotions. Sometimes not of fit mind to look at things dispationately, 'knee jerking' and get it wrong.

We also need to remind ourselves, that in many cases of allegations, that the witnesses reporting these are severely damaged people, either by the event or their own personal circumstances. Anyone who has worked with youngsters from residential environments will associate with the complex thoughts of the youngsters and the daily fight for survival (where dog eats dog). 9 out of 10 residential special schools cater for the worst behaviours of children outside of Young Offenders instituitions, with the later becoming the next port of stay for many who go through a torrid time, remain in constant torment as they steer towards criminality and have become psychologically very damaged. Allegations about staff behaviour are daily consequences in many environments; despite the 'self-protection' training given by the many good managements about keeping professional standards and professional distance. I certainly found myself, in my managerial role, constantly reminding staff about taking measures to prevent  any mis-interpretation of their actions and the ensuing risk of allegation.

During my professional career, having gone through an extensive process of investigation to allegations against two of my staff, the police enquiries concluded with student retracting their allegation saying they wanted 'to get back at the teacher' for a punishment metered out  and in another case the allegating youngster told officers they were 'bored' and wanted to be away from the classroom 'just to' have someone listen to them. In both incidents there were no charges of wasting police time preferred against the individuals, as it was felt the juvenile court service would be clement, anyway. From my recollections both members of staff left the establishments earlier than they had planned as doubt and targetting by other students became an issue. Maybe we should consider the use of 'lie detector', into the justice system, on those making the allegations and those who are being accused.  

The solictors Chris Saltrese website has much of the concern about false allegation with particular reference to historical abuse, raising much in a 'nutshell' my take on processes.

"Institutional complaints

Children living in boarding schools or care homes share rumours and frequently malign staff. Perceived favouritism may give rise to sexual connotations and before long ‘everybody knows’ that  a particular member of staff has an evil eye for a pupil though there may be no evidence of this at all. In some cases there may be substance to rumour, but the idle belief in such conduct may also be a potent source of false allegations, particularly in a historical context.

When police conduct retrospective investigations into schools and care homes, old rumours may cement into concrete allegations with the same person being accused by multiple complainants.

Suspect names may already be in circulation through individual groups in contact, through media publicity or the internet.

Compensation may be a strong incentive, with mass civil claims bundled against the authorities running the home or school.

Claims of abuse also fit in with the trauma theories. Many ex-care home residents have had a damaged childhood prior to being in care and may go on to having difficult adult lives, including alcohol, drugs and criminal offences. To attribute these problems to institutional abuse where there is a potentially significant financial reward may be an easy source of temptation."

The greatest worry of all is that police officers excersisng their powers, over zealously, without there being clear evidence cause considerable collateral damage to the accused life, where they 'heavy foot' the process of investigation and arrest. Furthermore, the current immunity of the police engaging in the maligning of the  individual and the protection of the accuser from prosecution, is absolutely iniquitous.

The compensation procedure is much the same as the compensation to farmers from the devastation of the effects of BSE on their lives. Little and too late. The cost of BSE to the farming industry, the inquiry into the goverments handling and the negative press ran into billions! The press played a pivotal role in condemning the farming industry. The overt concerns by those with vested interests kept the media happy for years. Those of us who lived through the torrid days of BSE were told catergorically that it was a 'prion' , which transferred to humans and that most of us would be 'stark raving bonkers' as a result within 20 years. Random groups claimed that Autism was a direct result of BSE and many staked claims of an equally random nature. The bottom line was that since the devastating hype many farmers went bust, many committed suicide after the loss of their livelihoods and yet there has never been any proven causal link to CJD (a human condition with similar symptoms). nearly 20 years on. There have only been reported 116 cases of CJD in the UK. So much for the claim of us all being mad; some of us are not! If we are mad, it is in emotional 'spirit' linked to anger and not in mental health terms.

There now needs to be rational thought applied to 'where we are at' with child abuse investigations. Maybe the claims culture needs to be deadened as a priority.