Peer Raped Children In Parliament, MP Claims

Lord Janner "raped and tortured" children in the Houses of Parliament, an MP has claimed.

Simon Danczuk used his parliamentary privilege to disclose allegations that the peer abused children inside the Palace of Westminster.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced in April that Lord Janner would not face trial over abuse allegations because he was suffering from dementia.

However, at the weekend the Mail on Sunday revealed despite the "severity" of his health problem, the peer had attended Parliament on official visits since being declared unfit to stand trial.

Mr Danczuk said: "I have met with Leicestershire Police and discussed the allegations in some detail. Children being violated, raped and tortured - some in the very building in which we now sit."

The Labour MP, who has been at the forefront of the campaign on historical sex abuse, said the decision not to prosecute Lord Janner offended "every principle of justice".

He added: " ... the shocking thing is that the CPS admits that the witnesses are not unreliable, it admits that Janner should face prosecution, but refuses to bring a case.

"I know the police are furious about this and rightly so."

Speaking in a debate in Westminster Hall, the Rochdale MP said the courts could have held a fitness to plead process which would establish whether Lord Janner was fit to stand trial or not.

He called for a trial of the facts to help victims get some sense of justice and criticised Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Alison Saunders for saying it would not be in the public interest.

He told MPs: "If Lord Janner really is too ill to face prosecution, then why can't the courts establish this with a fitness to plead process? This would clear up doubts that still linger, for example, why he was still visiting Parliament on official visits after he was declared unfit to face justice.

"Why is he able to contribute to the lawmaking process in the House of Lords but unable to face the law himself?

"If it is found that he is genuinely too ill to stand trial then why not conduct a trial of the facts?

"This would allow the victims to tell their stories and gain some sense of justice."

The CPS is reviewing its decision not to charge the 86-year-old peer after public anger he will not be prosecuted for sex abuse allegations during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

Justice Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge leading an independent inquiry into child sex abuse, said she would investigate claims against Lord Janner and could even call him to give evidence.

The peer's family denies claims he used his power as an MP for Leicester to abuse vulnerable young boys at a local children's home.