High-level probes into VIP paedophile networks were shut down as police closed in on a number of powerful figures, former officers claim.
In an extraordinary development, detectives have turned whistleblower to expose how undercover operations were suddenly “canned”.
Almost 30 officers have been venting their anger online – heaping pressure on the probe by Scotland Yard and the Government into widespread claims of historic sexual abuse.
One former officer called Jim wrote: “This is about kids being raped by those in power that included politicians of all sorts.
“It goes to the very heart of our establishment.”
The allegations surfaced during a four-month investigation by the Exaro news website into a secret members-only chat forum used by former and serving Metropolitan Police officers.
Use of the locked forum is vetted so that only people who have worked in or closely alongside the force can join or see the discussions.
Along with the officers and a sixth man – a government worker who signed the Official Secrets Act – a further 11 policemen claimed colleagues had told them of similar cover-ups.
One, who said his investigation into a paedophile ring was shut down, claimed: “As the operation expanded up the greasy pole of high society, the job got canned.”
Shut down: A redacted discussion thread among former officers on the forum
We have protected the identities of the whistleblowers – some of whom claim that surveillance officers watching a paedophile ring even led them to fellow officers and a string of lawyers.
An officer with two decades of service claimed his crime squad at a station in central London was shut down because it got too close to the establishment.
And a retired sergeant with 30 years’ service said evidence of abuse from a notorious care home was “destroyed” and a detective on the case was discredited by “corrupt politicians”, “corrupt high- ranking officers” and “religious people”.