Lord David Steel, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, talking on BBC2’s Newsnight programme said that the Child abuse allegations against the former Rochdale MP were “scurrilous hearsay” adding that “nothing has been proved” yet about the late MP and warned against “tittle-tattle”.
Lord Steel was appearing on the programme following the ending of the three part drama series A Very English scandal which told the story of the trial and subsequent Not Guilty verdict against a previous leader of the party Jeremy Thorpe.
Thorpe had been accused of conspiring to order the murder of a former lover Norman Scott and stood down as Liberal leader in 19766 to be replaced by David Steel.
Smith allegedly raped boys at Rochdale’s Knowl View residential school, which closed in 1992, and abused boys at the privately-run Cambridge House children’s care home, which closed in 1965.
A “valuable opportunity” was missed to prosecute Smith during his lifetime in the late 1990s, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found earlier this year.
Cyril Smith’s prominence and standing in Rochdale allowed him to exert influence on others locally – in particular, to put pressure on them to keep quiet about any
allegations of abuse.
Although the Lancashire Constabulary investigation into Smith pursued the allegations robustly and diligently, the Director of Public Prosecutions
advised that there should be no prosecution. It has been suggested that Smith or his supporters may have exerted improper influence on the Director of Public
Prosecutions, but there is no evidence to support such an allegation.
Valuable opportunities were, however, lost in 1998 and 1999 to charge and prosecute Smith during his lifetime, and for the complainants of his alleged abuse to seek justice.
