Geoffrey Dickens

Geoffrey Dickens   (politician)
Born	26 August 1931
Died	17 May 1995 (Age 63)
Cause of death	liver cancer
A UK politician who worked to expose the UK VIPaedophile phenomenon.

Geoffrey Kenneth Dickens was a British Conservative politician. He was MP for Huddersfield West from 1979 until the seat was abolished in 1983. He was then elected for UK Littleborough and Saddleworth and held the seat until his death in 1995.

Activities

Between 1981 and 1985, Dickens campaigned against a suspected paedophile ring he claimed to have uncovered that was connected to trading child pornography. In 1981, Dickens named the former Deputy Chief of MI6, Peter Hayman, as a paedophile in the House of Commons, using parliamentary privilege so he could not be sued for slander. Dickens asked why he had not been jailed after the discovery on a bus of violent pornography.

In 1983, Dickens claimed there was a paedophile network involving "big, big names – people in positions of power, influence and responsibility" and threatened to name them in the Commons. The next year, he campaigned for the banning of Hayman's Paedophile Information Exchange organisation. Dickens had a thirty-minute meeting with the Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, after giving him a dossier containing the child abuse allegations. Although Dickens said he was "encouraged" by the meeting, he later expressed concern that PIE had not been banned.

On 29 November 1985, Dickens said in a speech to the Commons that paedophiles were "evil and dangerous" and that child pornography generated "vast sums". He further claimed that: "The noose around my neck grew tighter after I named a former high-flying British diplomat on the Floor of the House. Honourable Members will understand that where big money is involved and as important names came into my possession so the threats began. First, I received threatening telephone calls followed by two burglaries at my London home. Then, more seriously, my name appeared on a multi-killer's hit list". Dickens' son later said that about the time when the dossier was given to the Home Secretary, the MP's London flat and constituency home were both broken into but nothing was taken, presumably in a search for documents.

Legacy

The Labour MP Tom Watson asked the Home Office in February 2013 for Dickens' dossier. A Home Office review in 2013 concluded that any information requiring investigation was referred to the police but revealed that Mr Dickens' dossier was "not retained". After the issue had been raised again by Labour MP Simon Danczuk in July 2014, former Director of Public Prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, said the circumstances in which the dossier had gone missing were alarming and recommended an inquiry into the fate of the dossier. Prime Minister David Cameron asked the Home Office Permanent Secretary to investigate what had happened to the missing dossier. Danczuk responded that another internal inquiry was merely trying to limit damage, and that a public inquiry was necessary to retain public confidence. The missing dossier has been linked with ongoing investigations into the Elm Guest House child abuse scandal.

In 2015, a file from 1981 was released into the National Archives titled SECURITY. Sir Peter Hayman: allegations against former public official of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects, showing that the then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had been briefed on the matter before the allegations were made public by Dickens.

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References

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