Tom Watson admits he got 'too close' to Carl Beech case

The former Labour deputy leader supported Beech when he claimed he was the victim of paedophile ring linked to Parliament.

He was heavily criticised after it emerged Beech was a liar, particularly as he had publicly attacked former Home Secretary Lord Brittan, one of those falsely accused.

Beech accused a string of public figures of being linked to the paedophile ring, including former Prime Minister Edward Heath.

Mr Watson, the former MP for West Bromwich East, had urged the police to take Beech's complaints seriously and tweeted that he believed the late Lord Brittan had abused children. He also wrote in a newspaper column how Beech told him Lord Brittan was "as close to evil as a human being could get in my view".

Speaking on BBC Radio 2, Mr Watson said Lady Brittan had not accepted his apology.

He said: "My first public statement was he is either an elaborate hoaxer or he's the real deal, he's not delusional.

"Sadly it turned out he was an elaborate and quite cruel hoaxer, in the sense he sent the police on a red herring."

"If I did make a mistake after the death of Lord Brittan, which was some time after Beech was in the system, I shouldn't have responded.

"I've apologised to Lady Brittan and I've apologised publicly, although I have to say Lady Brittan hasn't accepted my apology, which I fully respect, but I did apologise."

Mr Watson also denied political pressure was solely to blame for the launch of the bungled investigation.

"That's not what the police said, the police said they had to follow the evidence," he said.

"My job, at the request of the police, was to passport alleged victims into the system, remember this was post-Savile, and I passported him into the system. All I then saw was the public statements from the police that they believed what he had to say.

"What I said at the time was I don't know if he's a victim or not. Obviously I got too close to the case but let me just try and defend myself a little bit, within the context of hundreds of allegations, dozens of testimonies from people who were very severely abused as children, I'm afraid you do get close to these things.

"I'm very pleased a number of serious predatory paedophiles went to jail as a result of the evidence that came through and I'm very sorry that Carl Beech hoaxed the police and many other people."