Fanning the flames of ‘Nick’s’ false allegations

THIS week I was planning to write about the benefits to portfolio risk of international equity investing backed up by numerous research papers. No, don’t go away. You’d have loved it. Trust me. I’m a journo… Never mind!

But then I came across a couple of newspaper articles. Firstly, about the actor Kevin Spacey (assault allegations recently dropped against him in America) ‘punching back’ at his accusers with a defiant poetry recital alongside the statue of a battered Greek boxer in Rome’s main archaeological museum.

Next, that the police chief at the centre of the botched VIP sex abuse inquiry costing £2.5m into false allegations of paedophilia and child murder by the fantasist ‘Nick’ has amassed a £2m pension pot. And that when allegations about the Westminster paedophile ring first surfaced, Tom Watson, now Labour’s deputy leader, leapt upon them purely for personal political advancement. Sadly, one fact in this sorry mess that is ‘credible and true.’

Something’s wrong with this world, isn’t it? We have an Oscar-winning actor who has his career cut short by, as yet, unproven allegations. We have an MP who caused complete misery in the lives of well-respected people walking as free as a bird. We have a top policeman who also caused misery (because he didn’t do his job as an investigator) and who not only gets promoted, but a gold-plated pension plus all accompanying perks, such as free truncheons for life.

As a writer of psychological crime thrillers (now in audiobook format; plus all profits to Costa del Sol Cudeca cancer charity) I admit I’m attracted by crime and all it entails. From grisly descriptions of crime scenes to the spine-chilling details of post-mortems – as in my latest novel ‘Betrayal.’

And given the chance to talk to criminals, I’d welcome the first-hand information they’d provide. But that’s as far as it’d go. Not so with some police officers, apparently.

The charge sheet gets ever longer, doesn’t it? In addition to the VIP abuse inquiry, there’s Hillsborough, Orgreave (police brutality), Stephen Lawrence, Rotherham (child-grooming), Cliff Richard…

Well, let’s finish where we began: on a low note. What a ‘cop out.’

Nora Johnson’s psychological crime thrillers ‘Betrayal,’ ‘The Girl in the Woods,’ ‘The Girl in the Red Dress,’ ‘No Way Back,’ ‘Landscape of Lies,’ ‘Retribution,’ ‘Soul Stealer,’ ‘The De Clerambault Code’ (www.nora-johnson.net) available online as ebook (€0.99; £0.99), ibook, paperback and audiobook.