Police inquiries into child abuse claims ruined lives, say MPs

A senior committee of MPs is accusing "over-enthusiastic" police officers of ruining people's lives by pursuing false claims of child abuse.

The Home Affairs Select Committee calls for limits to be placed on police methods of "trawling" for evidence in such cases. In a report published today, the committee said that inquiries into claims dating back 30 years had created "a new genre of miscarriages of justice". In the past five years, 34 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales have investigated allegations of child abuse in children's homes or other institutions.

The committee said: "A large number of people who are not charged may have had their lives ruined or seriously damaged by unfounded allegations."

Chris Mullin, chairman of the committee, criticised the quality of evidence obtained in trawling exercises. He said the Crown Prosecution Service rejected 79 per cent of institutional child abuse cases referred by the police compared with an overall rejection rate of 13 per cent.

Mr Mullin said: "I am in no doubt that a number of innocent people have been convicted and that many other innocent people ... have had their lives ruined."

The committee said prosecutions based on allegations more than 10 years old should proceed only with the court's permission and raised "real concern" that the potential for obtaining financial compensation acted as an incentive for giving false evidence.