Thread by @JEMilneSky

Back at Newcastle Crown Court for the opening of the defence in the trial of Carl Beech, who is charged with 12 counts of Perverting the Course of Justice and 1 of Fraud. The defendant, Carl Beech - also known as “Nick” - is expected to take to the stand today.

*Carl Beech is expected to take to the witness box

Collingwood Thompson QC, defending Carl Beech, calls Carl Beech to the witness box. Dressed in a navy blue jumper, beige corduroy trousers and black trainers.

Collingwood Thompson QC (CT) begins by asking Carl about his early years after school - Carl confirms he got a job at an Estate Agents in Kingston, despite wanting to just sit in his room after finishing school.

After having tried to emigrate to America and failing, Carl became a healthcare assistant at 19 helping elderly patients. He explains he worked in that home until he applied to train to be a nurse in 1988.

Carl spent three years training to be a registered general nurse. Following this he went to work as a Staff Nurse in Slough, in paediatrics for a year. He then went to Brighton to train as a paediatric nurse, leading him then to be a Staff Nurse at St Mary’s hospital Paddington.

Carl stayed at St Mary’s “for a few years” starting in 1993/94. He then moved with his wife at the time, Dawn, to Gloucestershire. He moved to a job in Cheltenham for 18 months. He then moved to a clinical development nurse role in Swindon.

Carl Beech spent 2 years in the Swindon role. Following this he moved to be a project nurse manager at Birmingham Children’s hospital.

After Birmingham, Carl became assistant business manager at Hereford hospitals - moving out of nursing in around 2001/2002 to more managerial roles.

Carl remained in that role 18 months “because it didn’t really suit what I wanted to do, it was too removed from patient contact”. He then moved back to Swindon.

Carl became Head of Complaints at Gloucester - spending approximately 3 years in that role. After this he then went to work for the Care Quality Commissioner as an inspector, starting in 2012, Carl thinks.

By this time Dawn and Mr Beech had separated. Beech was in this role in 2016 when the police came to search his house.

Collingwood Thompson QC now turns to Beech’s childhood and what he remembers about his step father.

Beech says he barely remembers his biological father, Gass, he explains he did make contact with him later and maintained a kind of contact with him for about 10 years.

Beech says he has vague recollections of meeting his step father - Ray Beech. He remembers being excited. He says he remembers an odd slap here and odd slap there, “but nothing untoward”. He adds he must have been present at Ray and his mother’s wedding but can’t remember.

Beech explains he didn’t get on with Ray Beech’s children from a previous marriage. He says he wasn’t made welcome in the family home. The younger child, he says, went out of their way to get Beech in trouble with his step father.

Beech adds that he remembers the other children would put drawing pins around his bed at night so he would step on them when he got up.

Beech says his step father was nasty, he drank a lot and says his step father didn’t like him “for anything other than hurting me”. He says his step father changed as soon as Beech and his mother moved into the house.

Beech explains the layout of the house in which he lived with his mother, step father and the children from his step father’s previous marriage.

Beech says his step father tried to kiss him. This is said to have happened in the living room. Beech says he remembers this being after school in the late afternoon, early evening.

Beech says his mother must have been in the house at the time but he only has one recollection of her the whole time they lived in that house. Beech says when his step father tried to kiss him he did nothing, at the start...

...but when it progressed to the lips and open mouth, it wasn’t something he wanted to do and so he pulled away. His step father wasn’t happy with this and Beech says this is the first time he remembers his step father hitting him on the side of the head and the stomach.

Beech says he was shocked, adding that was this first time he’d been hit. He says he was confused, he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve it.

Beech started crying but “the incident” continued. The kissing continued, Beech say “I was told to do as he was told and then the touching started. He touched me on my body and then between my legs”.

Beech says when it got to the touching between the legs, he resisted and got another beating for it.

Beech says he was sent to his room after the incident. He adds there were other occasions. He says the other occasions happened in the bathroom and the bedrooms upstairs in the family home.

Beech says his step fathers drinking got a lot worse, his manner when he’d been drinking, he was more aggressive.

When his step father had been drinking Beech says he would hit a bit more and “he would try to do other things, do what he wanted and then do it to me.” Asked what other things, Beech answered - “raping me”.

Beech says the first time his step father raped him was in a wild life park in Oxford. He says Ray had taken him there, his mother was not there. Beech adds another boy and his father were at the wild life park.

The other boy, John, was a friend of Beech’s, he says. Beech adds he didn’t know much of the boy John, he knew his father knew his father, he knew where they lived.

Beech was pretty certain the other boys father was also in the army, that’s how they knew each other.

Beech says the wild life park “was just a day out, that’s what it started off as being. We walked around and looked at the animals. It was a nice outing”.

Beech says “John and I were taken into the toilets by our respective step fathers and that’s where it happened for the first time”.

Beech says his step father came into the cubicle with him and he says he didn’t know at the time, but his step father raped him.

Beech says he didn’t know what was happening at the time, he tried to struggle and scream but he couldn’t. He says his step father had a hand over his mouth. Beech says he was wearing long trousers at the time.

Beech says it was “indescribable pain, like he was being ripped apart from inside out” and that at the time he didn’t understand why it was happening.

Beech says John was going through the same thing with his step father. When this finished, Beech says his step father just left him there, half on the floor. “He just left me, it was John who came in to help me out”.

“Confused, in pain, my clothes were bloody and shocked by what he’d done”. Beech says he doesn’t recall his mother being home. He says she must have been around but he has no memory of her at all.

Beech says he tried to talk to her but “it didn’t end very well, so I wouldn’t say anything again”.

Beech says he told his mother he didn’t want Ray bathing him - this was before the alleged rape in the toilet. Beech says he didn’t tell his mother about the incident in the safari park.

Justice Goss QC asks Beech to clarify about when he told his mother he didn’t want Ray to bath him. Beech says his mother didn’t ask why he didn’t want Ray to bath him.

Beech says he was punished when he got home from the wild life park because he had struggled. He says his step dad hit him a few times.

After being punished Beech says he went to his room and cried with his dog. He cried into her fur.

Beech says there were other occasions when Ray did this. Beech says “it was a regular event with him in the house, couldn’t say how often, just a regular thing. Sometimes it was just kissing, sometimes it was everything.”

Beech says his step father introduced him to John’s father in their house in Oxford. He says he was introduced to him before the trip to the wildlife park. Some confusion here, Collingwood Thompson QC clarifies, asking Beech, did anyone else sexually abuse you?

Beech says when he was introduced to John’s father, BEFORE the visit to the wildlife park, an “untoward” incident happened in the living room.

He says “John and I had been called down from upstairs and I had to be with johns father, he had to be with mine. It only involved kissing and touching, nothing more than that.”

He says the next person he was introduced to by his step father with General Bramall.

Beech says he was taken to the barracks, he says he remembers being driven there, he thinks. He adds this was the first time his step father took him to the barracks.

Beech says his step father took him into some offices on the first floor. He says his step father was dressed in his uniform.

He says other people in uniform had conversations with his step father. He was then shown into another office with his step father. He says there was only one other man in there, he was last introduced as General Bramall. At the time Beech says he didn’t know who he was.

“My step father introduced me”, says Beech. The other person then asked his step father to wait outside.

Beech says he wasn’t in there for very long, “he touched my head, he touched my body, I had to undress and then to dress again.” He says the man didn’t say anything to him. Nothing at all.

Beech says his step father came back into the room when he was dressing. The man and Beech’s step father spoke but Beech didn’t hear what they were saying.

They then left to go home. Beech says this was one of the few times he saw his step father happy, he was told he had done well. His step dad seemed to be in a lighter mood, Beech says he wasn’t used to seeing him like that.

The next time Beech saw the person he says was General Bramall was at another house in Wilton, very similar to the one where they were living at the time.

He says this next meeting happened very soon after the first one. He says his step father took him there - he can’t remember whether it was on foot or in a car.

He says he was taken to the back of the house, to the living room. Once there he was there with General Bramall and two other people he was later introduced to and another he doesn’t know. They were all dressed in suits, not uniform, including General Bramall, says Beech.

At the time he says he didn’t know who these people were. He says his step father later introduced him to these people.

General Gibbs and General Beach are the other two people he was later introduced to who were at the house with General Bramall.

At the house Beech was asked to undress and turn around and then dress again, he says.

Beech says it was his step father who asked him to undress. While this was happening the other people were in the room watching.

Once he was dressed everyone was asked to leave the room by General Bramall.

He says the other man, of which he doesn’t know the identity, was taking photographs.

When he was alone with General Bramall Beech says Bramall I dressed him and then did as his step father did and raped him.

Beech says he was left on the floor, Bramall left and his step father came back in.

After this incident Beech says his step father didn’t say anything apart from get your clothes on. He didn’t seem as happy as he was before. But Beech says he doesn’t have any further recollection of him at that stage. He says he was shocked and confused at the time.

Imber and Lark Hill barracks are the other locations where Beech says he remembers other incidents happening.

When he was taken to Imber Beech says there were other boys there. He can’t remember exactly but thinks there were 5 or 6 other boys there, around the same age as Beech or appeared older - Beech was 8 at the time.

Beech says General Bramall was there but didn’t feature all of the time, “he came in and out”.

Beech says there was other army people there, walking around in uniform, more than 10 of them.

Beech says when he got there he and the boys were all split up and taken to separate buildings. He says when he got to the building he was undressed and tied to the wall by his hands raised above his head. He says he was tied to some hooks or fastenings.

He says once he was tied up that he doesn’t remember too much but that it was painful. He says they were stabbing something into his foot and his hands and later they put a lighter to his feet.

Beech says there were between 3 and 5 people doing this. “Some went, some came but there was always a few of them there”.

Beech didn’t recognise the identify of any of them at that stage. He says he remembers screaming and crying - “crying they don’t like. The pain was different to what I felt before and that’s my main memory of that time, other than humiliating things like wetting yourself.”

Beech says it was part of the rules that there was to be no crying. He says it was a rule that the things they did to you, you couldn’t help it.

He says his step father told him the rules, but he’s not sure.

He says there was always three rules - no crying, no hesitation and do as you’re told. He says they are the three rules.

Beech says he has no recollection of getting home after the incident in Imber. He says he remembers someone cleaning his feet but can’t remember who. He can’t remember how he got home.

He says at the time he didn’t know where he was but later realised it was at Imber because he knew it was empty buildings, it was a military location, it wasn’t far from where he lived. He says he was able to visit the site on an open day, later.

2013 Beech visited Imber, he says.

Collingwood Thompson QC now turns the attention of the jury to some photographs Beech took of Imber in 2013 on an open day.

On that visit to Imber Beech says he was allowed to wander freely around the church there and a house almost directly opposite the church, only. Most places were cordoned off.

In the photographs, Beech says there is a number of the building he was taken to as a boy.

Beech says he has no recollection as to why he moved from Wilton to Bicester. He didn’t know at the time why. He learnt later the reasoning.

When he moved to Bicester, Beech lived with his mother - he says Ray found them in Bicester. Ray wasn’t there when they first moved to Bicester.

Beech says Ray banger on the front door and tried to break in, his mother took Beech to the bathroom and told him to stay there.

Beech adds that the police were called. The police then took his step father away. Ray never lived with the family while they were at Bicester.

Following this incident Beech says he felt that Ray was present at other times but could day 100%.

At the meetings and gatherings Beech felt his step father was present in terms of voice and mannerisms - whilst he was at Bicester.

Court breaks for 15 minutes.

Collingwood Thompson QC turns now to Lark Hill. Carl Beech says this is another location where he was abused. He can’t say with any certainty whether he was taken here before or after Imber.

Beech says he was taken to a room on the ground floor of what he thinks was the mess building. He was then taken to a room on the first floor, here he says he was taken to a room with military personnel in. He doesn’t recall anyone specific.

Beech says there were other boys present, he says there were quite a few of them there, maybe into double figures.

Beech says they were all taken to a room, a reception area, where they mingled with the men. Then one would select one of the boys to go to the bedroom area upstairs.

Beech says all the boys were sected to go upstairs at different times, including him. Once in the bedroom there was more abuse “depending on what they wanted to do, it might involve kissing and touching, it might involve more than that. To masturbation, to oral sex, to rape”.

Beech says he remembers only that one time being taken to Lark Hill.

Collingwood Thompson QC returns to Beech’s time Bicester. Beech explains he used to walk to school there as it wasn’t far from where he lived at the time.

At the time Beech’s mother had a job, she used to work long hours. Though his step father wasn’t present, the same incidents happened. But now Beech says he was picked up by a driver and taken to the location - instead of his step father.

Beech says he has no advance knowledge that he was going to be picked up by the driver from school. He says he doesn’t know how they would have been able to do it, he says he just did as he was told to do.

Beech says a teacher or someone else would say that he had to go. Beech never said he didn’t want to go or that he didn’t know the driver, he says he would have been too scared to do that because there would have been consequences.

“It was quite a regular thing, I couldn’t be specific about times but it was just a regular part of my life at the time”. Beech says he didn’t know at that stage what make and model car, they were all just dark and shiny, well kept.

He adds that it was mostly the same driver who picked him up from school but sometimes a different one. He never spoke to the driver. He says they never spoke to him.

Whilst living in Bicester, Beech says he was driven to different houses around the area and a military barracks in Bicester.

He remembers being in a building in a wooded area, a brick building. He remembers being taken there “a few times”.

When Beech was later taken back to this location by the Met Police he was unable to find the building only remnants of the building. He remembers being upset by this.

Beech says he was also taken back to Imber when he was living in Bicester, once, maybe twice.

When he was taken to Imber Beech says he remembers Michael and Morris being introduced. Michael Hanley and Maurice Oldfield, he later learnt.

He says there were other boys there. He adds Michael Hanley was someone to take note of, he seemed important. But no emotion at all.

Beech says Michael Hanley spoke to him, threats more than anything. Beech says Hanley reiterated the rules and that he could “just disappear if I didn’t do what I was told and no one would care”.

Beech says he rarely spoke to Maurice Oldfield. Only rarely. When Beech was at Imber the same things happened, the men wanted to scare him and inflict pain, he says.

At Imber Beech says there was sexual abuse as well as pain and humiliation - the army personnel present were involved in that at that stage, not Michael or Morris. But Michael instigated the pain and humiliation - not by doing it himself.

This time it was the same as previously with the stabbing in the feet and the hands. He had darts thrown at him, “I was a dart board in effect” and electrocution, says Beech.

Beech says he doesn’t know the mechanism for how they did it but they held up “these two wires that sparked when they touched and then they put them on me, on my knees initially and then between my legs”.

Beech says this was a different form of pain. “Excruciating pain, like you were going to explode”.

Beech says these men did this for fun.

Beech explains he was introduced to the idea of “The Group” - this was the name he put to it to try and understand what it was.

One of the names on the list Beech gave to the police of members of “the group” was Jimmy Savile. He remembers first meeting him at a meeting with the group in Bicester, in a house around that area.

Beech says he knew it was Savile from his voice, his mannerisms. He says he wasn’t sure if t had sunk in at that point who it was. He says he used to watch him on the TV and so “part of your brain thinks it couldn’t possibly be him”.

Savile was there as a guest, says Beech. “The Group” said they were having a guest.

Beech can’t recall if more than one person said they were having a guest. He says he only met Savile a few times, not that many.

Beech says he met him at different locations, one was a military establishment. At those occasions as well as Beech and Savile there were “various men, some of which I didn’t know, at times I thought my step father was there but that was just a feeling.”

Beech says from recollection Michael Hanley was there and “John”’s father.

Beech says here was with Savile with other boys and that Savile was involved with him personally on a couple of occasions.

Savile “raped me over the bath”, says Beech. There was water in the bath. Beech says Savile held his head under the water. Beech says he felt like he was dying, “as soon as you try and scream you take in water”. Because of this Beech says baths in general he doesn’t like.

He says he house has to be empty and doors locked for him to have a bath now. He also says he can’t tolerate water shooting up his nose. He says he could also only swim with nose clips after, to stop water coming up his nose.

While this was happening Beech says he never said anything to his mother because at the time he assumed she knew. He says he only had a couple of recollections of his mother in Bicester the whole time. He says this abuse was part of his life, there was an element of normality.

He says the normality of it all made him think his mother knew what was happening.

Beech says he lived in Bicester from late 1976 to 1979, he thinks. He says “John” was still in Oxford at this time.

From Bicester Beech moved to Kingston. At this time Beech’s mother was working in management in the health service.

When Beech moved the Kingston the meetings with “the group” continued. He doesn’t know how they found him.

Beech says Michael Hanley found him. Hanley is said to have been on his own, he found Beech in the evening one day. Beech was walking home/through Kingston at the time Hanley found him.

On this occasion Beech says Hanley told him “that it wasn’t over, it wasn’t finished, they hadn’t finished with me.”

Beech says “it was carried on and I had to be at a certain place for the next meeting.”

At this time Beech had a dog called Heron and his mother had a dog called Sophie. He says his step father threatened to kill Sophie while he and his mother were in Wilton. In Kingston, Heron disappeared while she was out on a walk.

Beech says his mother returned from the walk and told him both dogs had run off on the walk. He was told that “they had taken her because I’d forgotten to go to a meeting” - the “they” being “the group”.

Beech says he doesn’t remember where he was supposed to have been but he failed to turn up. Michael Hanley is said to have spoken to Beech after the dog disappeared, because Beech had missed the meeting.

Beech says the taking of the dog was a lesson for not remembering to be where he should have been.

Beech says he was either coming or going from school when Hanley spoke to him. He was told this was a warning and that he was not to forget again, if he did, she (the dog) would never come back.

The dog was found. This incident happened a few years after Beech moved to Kingston with his mother.

Beech says he would meet with the group during school time and holidays, in the day and the night time.

Beech says he doesn’t remember the two contemporaries who have given evidence at this trial.

Beech says he didn’t have friends at school, his best friend was his dog. Collingwood Thompson QC says his two contemporaries spoke at this trial about taking on duties at the library at the school the three of them went to duties Beech joined in with. Beech doesn’t recollect.

He says he has no recollection of these two contemporaries at all - Jonathan Budd and Stephen White. Budd explained his name was next to Beech’s on the register and he had no recollection of Beech being absent.

Beech says “well that’s his recollection. I know the school records are incomplete but those that are there show absences”.

The jury are now looking at Beech’s school records - he explains the absences marked are because he was with “the group”.

Beech’s attendance is described as “good” at school. Collingwood Thompson QC asks if Beech was able to be there for role call and then make himself absent in the day - Beech says yes.

Beech explains registration wasn’t taken at Games lessons because you were in a separate building and so - if he wasn’t in games - he would bunk off.

Apart from a skiing accident, Beech says he had his arm in plaster (but cannot remember exactly when that was).

Again, Beech didn’t tell his mother about “the group”. He says it would have gone from assuming she knew to being scared of telling her. He doesn’t know what excuse he used to explain the arm in plaster - which he says the group did to him.

The jury now turn to a list Beech made of the locations of abuse and the people involved.

Beech says the person he saw the most of was General Bramall, then General Gibbs and then General Beach they least.

Beech says he then met Peter Hayman when he was living in Kingston but he only knew him by his last name.

He associated Dolphin Square, “pool” and London as locations with him. Beech says Hayman was an occasional member of “the group”.

Beech says Greville Janner was someone whose identity he learnt only 4 or 5 months before he went to the Met police. He learnt his name through a media report and seeing his photo on screen.

Edward Heath, Michael Hanley, Maurice Oldfield are listed as being in “the inner circle”. Beech explains this is his interpretation of how things appeared at the time. He says there were men in the group who seemed to have more influence/power.

On this list he has put - “other members of inner circle not willing to talk about”. Beech says there were 3 of these.

Turning to Harvey Proctor, Collingwood Thompson QC asks Beech is his memory of the first occasion they met. Beech says Proctor told him who he was on either the first or second occasion.

Beech says he first met Proctor at Dolphin Square. In an apartment on a high floor over the riverside. He says you could see the river from the window. Beech says he was with “John” at the time.

Proctor is said to have been there with other people, he’s not sure who. Beech says Proctor asked him and “John” to do things with each other.

Beech says Proctor wanted him to hit “John” with a baton, he thinks that was made of wood. He says it reminded him of a wooden baton, something his step father used to have.

Beech demonstrates the size of the baton, about 60cm. He says he was supposed to hit “John” with it but he did not agree to do this. As a result Beech says the instructions got more forceful.

“John” told Beech to do it, says Beech. Beech says he couldn’t - his voice breaking as he explains. As a result Beech says he was punished because he didn’t. Beech says he was held down and something very sharp put into his feet.

Beech doesn’t remember what happened after that. He says “John” told him what happened next.

Beech says after the point of someone putting something sharp in his feet, everything went black and so “John” had to tell him what happened.

Beech says Harvey Proctor was “one of the more regular” members of the group. Beech says he went to Dolphin Square on a number of occasions.

Against Proctor’s name is also the word “pool”, Beech doesn’t know the location of this pool. He says it wasn’t in London, doesn’t know if it’s a public or private pool, says he thinks it was private.

The pool wasn’t a regular venue, says Beech. He went a “few” times. In 2014 Beech thought he knew where that pool was, he thought it was Dolphin Square but when he then visited that location, it wasn’t.

Beech says when he looked at the video for Culture Club, the pool was very similar, and so he assumed that was the pool, he says he didn’t know for sure. He says when he walked around with Mark Conrad in 2014 he realised it wasn’t the same place.

Beech says “it sounds like everything everyone else did, he [Proctor] liked to humiliate, like to pain me, and liked sexual abuse as well.”

Beech says Proctor liked “oral sex and liked raping, he liked inflicting pain”. Beech says he met with Proctor at the Carlton Club and another house in London, as well as Dolphin Square, “several other houses in fact, I don’t know where they were.”

The first occasion Beech remembers meeting Edward Heath was at the Carlton Club, he says.

Beech adds Heath told him his name the first time they met. Beech says Heath told him he used to run the country. Beech says this meant nothing to him at this stage.

It was only in his twenties when this meant something to Beech. Heath was said to be on his own when Beech met him, in a room at the back, not with the rest of the group.

Harvey Proctor, Leon Briton and Michael Hanley were also said to be there when Beech Met Heath.

Beech says Heath didn’t do anything to him, but that he had to perform oral sex on Harvey Proctor, Beech says Heath stopped Proctor from hurting him.

Beech says Proctor was going to cut him because he “thought it was fun, it would cause me pain and he didn’t like me.” Beech says Proctor was going to cut him with a knife. He did not. Beech says Proctor didn’t cut him because he was told not to by Edward Heath.

Proctor wasn’t happy that he’d been told not to. Beech says Proctor gave him the knife and told him “I was always going to be so lucky”. Beech says he kept the knife.

The jury are now being shown an image of the knife he says Proctor gave him.

Beech kept the knife ever since in a memory box, in which there are things that represent both good and bad memories, says Beech. He explains he only explained the Proctor evening to Mark Conrad in 2014.

Court concludes for the day. Returning tomorrow at 1015.