Tim Tate

Author, Film-Maker & Investigative Journalist

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FOUR (REPEATED) QUESTIONS FOR EXARO NEWS

The announcement today that Operation Midland has ceased to investigate sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Proctor – the sole remaining living person accused by the complainant known as “Nick” – once again raises questions about the role of Exaro News.

Exaro – and in particular its grandly-titled “Editor-in-Chief”, Mark Watts – has breathlessly proclaimed its “vitally important” role in the establishment of Operation Midland.

Six weeks ago I asked Exaro to answer six questions about its allegations and actions.   It declined to answer any of them.  (Both questions and non-response were published on this blog, below).

Now, following Harvey Proctor’s call for both Exaro and “Nick” to be prosecuted for “seeking to pervert the course of justice”, I have offered Mark Watts another chance to respond to the four questions concerning Exaro’s self-proclaimed role in Operation Midland.

Any answer received will, of course, be posted here.

 The Questions

  1. You have claimed credit for the Metropolitan Police launching “Operation Midland”.

QUOTE:   Under its wide-ranging ‘Operation Fairbank’, the Metropolitan Police Service’s paedophile unit is investigating activities at Dolphin Square, the complex near Parliament where many MPs have their London flats. The Met’s move was sparked by a report on Exaro in July of two separate witnesses’ accounts of child sex abuse at Dolphin Square more than three decades ago.

SOURCE: http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5393/met-starts-investigation-into-child-sex-abuse-at-dolphin-square

Could you please state:-

  • What independent efforts you made to establish a factual basis for allegations made by the complainant known as “Nick” ?
  • What independent efforts you made to establish a factual basis for allegations made by the complainant known as “Darren” ?

 

  1. You have stated that your original report on the Dolphin Square allegations contained only “what had been corroborated”.

QUOTE:    We called one of these witnesses “Nick”. He had met Mark [Conrad] two months earlier, and his claims went far further than we reported. We limited our report to what had been corroborated.

SOURCE: http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5655/analysis-why-police-continue-to-investigate-claims-by-nick

Could you please state:-

  • Exactly which allegations you corroborated ?
  • How you corroborated these allegations

 

  1. You have stated that an Exaro reporter provided to the Metropolitan Police Service a signed statement identifying a property in Pimlico as the key to “the dark secrets of a group of VIP paedophiles”.

QUOTE:  Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s “Operation Midland” are investigating whether the Pimlico property – identified to them by Exaro – will help unlock the dark secrets of a group of VIP paedophiles. … Just over a week ago our reporter signed a formal statement for police in connection with the property.

SOURCE: http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5514/police-see-pimlico-property-as-key-to-paedophile-murder-case

Could you please state:-

  • Whether this “identification” came from a claim from one complainant or more than one complainant ?
  • Whether you recorded this “identification” on audio or video ?
  • In the event that more than one complainant “identified” the property, what steps you took to ensure there was no cross-contamination between these claims ?

 

  1. Your “Editor in Chief”, Mark Watts, stated on Russia today that the VIP child sexual abuse allegations reported by Exaro were “undoubtedly the biggest political scandal in post-war Britain”.

QUOTE:  Speaking on Galloway’s programme on Russia Today, Sputnik, Watts said: “This is, undoubtedly, the biggest political scandal in post-war Britain”

SOURCE: http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5605/mark-watts-tells-rt-s-sputnik-about-britain-s-biggest-scandal

Could you please state:-

  • Whether Exaro News has unequivocal proof of the abuse and murder allegations it reported ?
  • Whether Mr Watts and Exaro News believe even unproven allegations amount to “undoubtedly the biggest political scandal in post-war Britain” ?

 

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