A former Tory MP whose life was “ruined” by false claims of being a paedophile has said the BBC star at the centre of allegations in The Sun should not be named unless charged with a crime.
Harvey Proctor warned that people publicly making claims about the accused BBC star are “armchair detectives” who were causing damage by wilfully accusing innocent people.
Despite receiving an apology from police and a £900,000 payout, he says his life was “irrevocably changed” and he feared the stress would kill him.
Mr Proctor was pursued by the Metropolitan Police in 2015 after allegations by Carl Beech, a fantasist who invented claims of a Westminster paedophile ring. Beech was later sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The former MP told i: “My life was ruined by the lies of a man accusing me of being a paedophile. Beech went on to give interview after interview to radio and television with a blacked-out face and his words spoken by an actor.
“Those on social media have become armchair detectives and are indulging in wild speculation that will see all and sundry falsely accused.
“Yet the press, and social media, must wring the last bit of blood in the most difficult days of somebody’s life. One day they will go too far, a day we should all fear.”
The BBC has suspended the unnamed individual, alleged by The Sun to have made payments of £35,000 to a teenager in exchange for sexually explicit images.
It emerged on Monday that the young person, now 20, sent a denial to the tabloid saying the story was “totally wrong and there was no truth in it” – but, his lawyers said, “nonetheless, The Sun newspaper preceded to publish their inappropriate article”.
Mr Proctor said that “it took just a few hours to shatter my life” when the unverified accusations appeared on TV the day after police searched his home.
The consequences did not end after no further action was taken, he said: “I have been forced to move home twice at the advice of the police due to several credible threats to my life.
“I know I will think about what happened to me for as long as I live. I thought I would either die from the stress or by my own hand, the latter of which many succumb to.”
He added: “This is why I use my voice for the remaining time I have to speak out and will continue to speak in aid of law reform: namely anonymity until charge, and for ‘victims’ to be known as ‘complainants’ until guilt is established.
“While I have been vindicated many times over, I feel a duty to use my platform and accidental status as a ‘VIP’ to ensure what happened to me and others does not happen to anyone else again.”
The legal fight to take on the invented claims cost him an estimated £500,000 and he was left “living in a garden shed with no running water for 18 months with my partner and three dogs while I attempted to mount a fightback.”
Mr Proctor was Tory MP for the seats of Basildon and Billericay in Essex between 1979 and 1987.
On Monday, the Metropolitan Police said it had met representatives of the BBC over claims about the presenter. The Met said it was “assessing the information discussed at the meeting and further enquiries are taking place to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed.
“There is no investigation at this time.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations.”
