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Tory MP's half-brother Charles Napier sentenced to 13 years over 'prolific' child sex abuse Tory MP's half-brother Charles Napier sentenced to 13 years over 'prolific' child sex abuse
(about 1 hour later)
Charles Napier, half-brother to a senior Conservative MP, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison over the sexual abuse of 23 boys more than 20 years ago. The half-brother of a senior Conservative MP has been urged to come clean about his links to a network of high-profile paedophiles after he was jailed for hundreds of sexual assaults on young boys dating back more than 40 years.
The 67-year-old former teacher had admitted to 30 counts of indecent assault against boys younger than 16. Charles Napier, 67, was a former treasurer of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) which campaigned to lower the age of consent and linked like-minded abusers in the 1970s and 80s before it was disbanded. It was reputed to have high-ranking supporters within politics, police and the Church.
His "campaign of abuse," as it was characterised by the prosecution, spanned 1967 to 1983. Napier, whose half-brother is the MP John Whittingdale, was jailed for 13 years yesterday after admitting attacks on 21 boys at a boarding school during two-and-a-half years as a teacher. He was nicknamed “Rapier Napier” due to the nature of his brazen attacks.
He was alleged to have groomed and abused victims between 8 and 13 years old; the court heard that there were "well in excess" of 100 indecent assaults, that Napier was "prolific". He told police he was “completely out of control” and that he desperately regretted what he had done. He claimed to have previously had electric-shock therapy to address his behaviour.
At Southwark Crown Court in London last month, Napier pleaded guilty to 28 indecent assault charges and one indecency charge, and today he admitted to two further offences against 13 year old boys. Napier was arrested last year following a police investigation sparked by claims by MP Tom Watson about an Establishment ring of child abusers that had links to Downing Street.
It was also revealed he was twice convicted of abuse against boys - in 1972 he was put on a three year probation order, and in 1995 was sentenced to nine months in jail. “As a former officer of the Paedophile Information Exchange he knows a lot more about the activities of the network than he has publicly admitted to,” Mr Watson said.
Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said there was "no doubt" Napier had become a teacher because of the opportunity to work with and near young boys. “I doubt he really does have remorse for his crimes but if he does, he can start to put matters right by spilling the beans on his former friends in PIE. Did he have contact with any of the powerful child abusers in politics, the intelligence service, the police or the church?”
Referring to the scale of the abuse, he said: "It must have been hundreds." He gave his victims – aged between eight and 13 – fizzy drinks and chocolate before he abused them in a carpentry workshop which became his den, Southwark Crown Court was told yesterday. One boy was said to have been abused up to 100 times while another tried to commit suicide because he was so profoundly affected. Napier abused children during school plays while waiting in the wings.
One boy is thought to have been abused more than 100 times. He became a senior figure in PIE after leaving the school and had links with Peter Righton, a former social worker and notorious paedophile, whose home was raided in 1992. The raid revealed hardcore child abuse images and years of correspondence between paedophiles around the world. The inquiry led to a flat where Napier boasted he had access to young boys while he worked for the British Council in Cairo.
He is alleged to have told one victim "don't be a baby" and another whom he forced to perform oral sex: "That's what grown-ups do". A former child protection worker, Peter McKelvie, passed details of the Righton files to Mr Watson, which led to his statement in parliament. The files included claims that a high-level group of paedophiles were involved in the abuse of children at the Elm Guest House, a well-known meeting place for gay men, in south-west London.
Napier's abuse had "profound effects" on his victims, one of whom attempted suicide later in life. Napier, of Sherborne, Dorset, had been convicted twice before for abuse against boys but on the first occasion was given a probation order. In the second case he was jailed for nine months in 1995. He also admitted yesterday two other separate allegations of indecent assault against two 13-year-old boys after he left the school.
Napier, who is the half brother of John Whittingdale, later became the treasurer of now defunct paedophile activist group the Paedophile Information Exchange.
Peter Clement, prosecuting, said: "The offences are characterised by a campaign of sexual abuse involving significant planning, grooming and abuse of many pupils.
"It was sexual abuse of particularly vulnerable victims. The defendant ensured each child's compliance and silence through grooming to the extent that he abused several of the victims many, many times.
"The defendant abused the high degree of trust placed in him by his colleagues, the children's parents and the children themselves and exploited his role for his own sexual gratification."
In mitigation, Benjamin Hargreaves said Napier is "genuinely remorseful" and "realises how appalling his actions were".
Additional reporting by Press Association