Last weekend I had the rare experience of reading the Sunday Telegraph and in one of its many sections it carried a review of a recent book by Simon Danczuk and Matthew Baker titled 'Smile for the Camera - the double life of Cyril Smith'. Reading the review reminded me of a piece on a recent Jeremy Vine show where JV, in reference to the same book, wondered how people like Smith got away with their behaviour when it would seem that all too many people knew what he was up to.
Vine then broadcast an interview with a retired police officer who had investigated Smith in the 1980s and was clearly convinced that Smith should have been charged and tried. But, as with Savile, the story took a darker turn because, before this officer's report considered for action, two 'senior officers from another force' turned up and, in effect, confiscated all the relevant material, witness statements, investigation reports, evidence etc etc. These two officers then made it clear that the two investigating officers were to forget all about Smith and his unpleasant peccadilloes. As a consequence, the findings of the investigation never saw the light of day and Smith went on his merry way.
And I am left to wonder how this process works. How does what was clearly a thorough investigation which provides substantial evidence of serious wrongdoing end up being buried? What is the mechanism whereby senior police officers from another force are empowered to cross administrative boundaries to quash an investigation? What is the link between people like Smith and Savile and senior police officers and officers involved with Hillsborough and officers involved with Stephen Lawrence? Is there a common threat of interest that ties these unsavoury individuals together, and if there is, what is that thread?
And when Jeremy Vine asks 'how did they get away with it', it would seem that it was all too easy, because people who knew simply looked the other way. And they may have looked the other way because, on some level, they knew that people like Savile and Smith and Jaconelli (see Savile/Jaconelli/Corrigan paedophile ring: NYP cover-up continues - Whitby | Real Whitby | Whitby News | North Yorkshire | Whitby | Real Whitby | Whitby News | North Yorkshire) had access to a network of associates who could make things go away.