18th Mar 2015

A Case of mistaken identity?

In 1983 a young lad from the village of Harting in West Sussex was messing around with a friend when out of the blue a well-dressed man approached him and asked if he could do him a favour.  The man said that his car had broken down and he offered the lad a sizeable sum of money to look after the expensive car.  The lad agreed and later that day another male in a white transit style van turned up and fixed the vehicle.

Over the next week or so, the well-dressed man telephoned the victim’s home on several occasions and befriended the victim. He later asked the victim whether he wished to travel to London with him to go to a party.  Initially the victim was reluctant but following discussions with the victim’s parents the young lad was allowed to go to London.

The well-dressed man arrived with a woman driver, a dark green luxury vehicle.  He was told the woman was the man’s daughter.  During the journey the victim alleges the well-dressed man sat with him in the rear of the vehicle and seriously sexually assaulted him.  The woman did nothing. The victim remembers the car drove across Putney Bridge and arrived at a quiet backstreet comprising terraced three-storey houses.  Upon entering the property, the well-dressed man took the young lad upstairs and plied him with strong beer.  In the bedroom the victim remembers seeing lots of towels. The victim was raped and seriously sexually assaulted.  After the rape, the perpetrator invited the victim to go to the sauna room.  The lad only managed to escape when having the presence of mind to ask if he could go outside for a breath of fresh air.  Indeed the victim had to flee so quickly that he escaped with the clothes he stood in leaving his change of clothes in the house.

The victim telephoned his father and managed to get home on his own. A local police officer was called, but not before the victim had taken a bath and inadvertently washed away any forensic evidence.  The following day, two telephone calls were made to the victim’s house from a man asking to speak to him. The victim’s sister told him her brother was unavailable.   

A couple of days later two Metropolitan police officers interviewed the victim at home and were surprisingly aggressive and confrontational about the victim’s alleged “sensational” story.  The young lad was not able to identify the perpetrator or give the address of the house, but he described the three storey house and remembered it being grand and having a sauna.  He also recalled there were four or five black men who greeted the well-dressed man when they arrived at the London house.

Months later and out of the blue the victim’s parents were visited by another police officer from the Met who returned the clothes that had been left the house. With hindsight the police investigation had been remarkable for they managed to locate the victim’s clothing notwithstanding that the victim had been unable to give the police the address where the clothing might be found.  The police said they had traced the two calls made to his home the day after the assaults from the property where he was assaulted.

Maybe the police knew where to look. 

Perhaps even more surprising was the assertion by a police officer who confirmed to the boy’s parents that the man who had sexually assaulted their son had been sentenced to 2 years in prison. Again, one might say a prescient investigation in the absence of forensic evidence or identification evidence that would have identified the perpetrator.  Indeed, it seems that someone was prepared to plead guilty to serious charges in the absence of any evidence against him and in the absence of a victim at Court to testify.

The victim was seriously psychologically affected by the assault.  He never returned to school and it has caused him lifelong psychological problems.  Not a day goes by without him recalling the incident.  In November 2014 he read for the first time an article in the local Petersfield Post detailing an investigation by the Metropolitan police into the death of 8 year old Vishal Mehrotra.  Just months before the article the emaciated body of Vishal had been found in woodland less than 2 miles from Harting. 

The eight-year-old went missing less than a mile from the notorious Elm guesthouse.

The police recently confirmed they are investigating possible murders linked to the Elm guesthouse. The current investigation is, in part, centring on the possible link between Sir Peter Morrison, the former deputy chairman of the Conservative party who passed away in 1995 and the deaths of the young men. He was known to be a paedophile but inexplicably never charged with any criminal offence during his lifetime.  Moreover, rumours abound that senior figures within Margaret Thatcher’s government knew only too well of Peter Morrison’s predilections.

The connection you say?

Last November, for the first time, the victim and his parents saw photographs of Peter Morrison and believed that he was the man that abducted him, lured him to London and raped him.  He now believes the property where he was raped was the Elm guesthouse.  Perhaps that would account for the sauna and the number of towels in the bedroom.  The victim’s parents also recall that the police described the perpetrator as a senior businessman and a QC.

Sir Peter Morrison was indeed a senior businessman and a QC. 

The man convicted of the alleged offence against the victim was John Harold Harrison.  His real identity is unknown and there is no suggestion that an MP, business leader and QC was convicted of serious sexual offences in 1983. 

The similarity of surname?

Mere coincidence.  Perhaps, but enough to create sufficient confusion in the mind of a 14-year-old lad that the police charged the right man.

The victim has recently learned from the Met Police that the Defendant, John Harold Harrison in fact received a 1 year Probation Order in 1983 for indecent assault, a sentence that seems remarkably lenient even by the standards of the day.  The fact that his parents were told by police at the time that the perpetrator was sentenced to two years custody remains unexplained.

If anyone can help identify John Harrison, we would be very pleased to hear from you.  The victim is very keen to understand where he was taken on that fateful day in 1983.

If you or a family member were the victim of sexual abuse, whether at the hands of Sir Peter Morrison or John Harrison, or can offer any insight into this story, please contact Robert Shaw by emailing him at robert@robsonshaw.uk.

Category: News Updates