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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...
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