Father claims son was MURDERED by Westminster paedophile ring - and police covered it up
THE father of an eight-year-old boy murdered in the 1980s claims his son may have died at the hands of a Westminster paedophile ring - and that police helped cover the crime up.
Now it is clear to me that there has been a huge cover up. There is no doubt in my mind.
Retired magistrate Vishambar Mehrotra, 69, recorded a telephone conversation with a male prostitute who said that his son Vishal may have been abducted and taken to a notorious south-west London guesthouse in 1981.
He took the recording to the police at the time, but claims that they refused to investigate an allegation which implicated "judges and politicians" and instead launched a "huge cover-up".
The youngster was abducted while walking home from watching the Prince of Wales and Diana Spencer ride in a carriage to their wedding on July 29 that year. He had gone ahead of his family members towards his home in Putney, and was last seen less than a mile from the guesthouse.
According to Mr Mehrotra, he received an anonymous call some months later from a man who suggested that Vishal may have been abducted by “highly placed” paedophiles operating from the Elm Guest House in nearby Barnes.
He told the Daily Telegraph: "I was contacted by a young man who seemed to be in his 20s. He told me he believed Vishal may have been taken by paedophiles in the Elm Guest House near Barnes Common.
“He said there were very highly placed people there. He talked about judges and politicians who were abusing little boys.”
The accusation comes just days after the Metropolitan Police announced that it was to investigate possible murders linked to the Elm Guest House.
The new inquiry was sparked after an alleged victim claimed to have witnessed three boys being killed, including one allegedly strangled by a Conservative MP during a depraved sex game.
He claimed that high-profile paedophiles abused children at locations in London in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mr Mehrotra, a solicitor who was a JP at Wimbledon magistrates’ court until retiring in 2006, added: “I recorded the whole 15-minute conversation and took it to police. But instead of investigating it, they just pooh-poohed it and I never heard anything about the tape again. The whole thing went cold.
“At that time I trusted the police. But when nothing happened, I became confused and concerned.
“Now it is clear to me that there has been a huge cover up. There is no doubt in my mind.”
Part of Vishal's skeleton was discovered in woodland in West Sussex in February 1982. There was no trace of his legs, pelvis or lower spine, nor of his outer clothes, his sleeveless vest or his Superman underpants.
At the inquest into his death, West Sussex coroner Mark Calvert Lee recorded an open verdict but said “foul play” was likely.
Four months after the remains were found, the guesthouse was raided. Dozens of men were questioned, apparently including at least 30 individuals who were then prominent in public life.
Mr Mehrotra, now living in West Molesey near Hampton Court, said he had “hardly been contacted” by police since then.
He said: “This guesthouse was right next to where Vishal disappeared. There were predatory people there who were taking young boys and abusing them.
“It seems to me that it all adds up, so I can’t understand why the police have again failed to get in contact with me."
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has described the allegations of a "cover up" as "grotesque" and called for further investigation.
Referring to the story on radio station LBC, Mr Clegg said: "You can’t think of a more serious and grotesque allegation than that, and it clearly needs to be looked into.
"I think it is right for instance in other parts of the country that police officers have been, are now under scrutiny under the magnifying glass, for not having acted in Rotherham for instance."
He added: “We are in the early stages of really a reckoning with our past, of things happening on a scale and of a gravity which just a few months ago would have seemed unimaginable and almost too horrific to contemplate.”
It was widely reported at the time that the raids were linked to Vishal’s disappearance. The Times reported that the investigation had included the disappearance of another boy, Martin Allen, 15, missing since Guy Fawkes' Night, 1979, whose body has never been discovered.
But soon afterwards lawyers acting on behalf of the guesthouse threatened newspapers with legal action if they continued reporting on its alleged activities.
Martin’s brother this week called on police to reopen the investigation into the teenager’s disappearance. Kevin Allen, 51, said he always suspected a cover-up after police told him all the case files had been lost in a freak flood.
He said: “I think there are powerful forces involved in this. Years ago I was warned by a policeman that if I looked too deep into this then I might get hurt. I’ve never forgotten that.
“We have barely heard anything for 20 years, but there are other missing cases where the police barely stopped looking.
“My dad died never knowing what happened to Martin. We would love to have an answer for my mother before she passes away.”
In May 1983 Carole and Harry Kasir, the owners of the Elm Guest House, were fined £1,000 each and given suspended nine-month sentences at the Old Bailey for “running a disorderly house”. They were found not guilty of living off immoral earnings and having obscene films.
At an inquest into Mrs Kasir's death in 1990, members of The National Association of Young People in Care said that she had lived in fear of her life since the hotel was exposed. Christopher Fay said: “The reasons for her death are all tied up in this child pornography ring at the hotel.
“She was hounded and harassed by police and security services. She knew all the top people who had been involved in the ring at the hotel.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the force would not comment on an ongoing investigation.
