'Official' papers may not tell whole story of historical paedophilia scandal

Sir Peter Hayman

The discovery and release of government papers detailing the investigation into the alleged ‘unnatural’ sexual conduct of diplomat Sir Peter Hayman generated substantial press coverage. Unreported, however, were alternative contemporary accounts offering a different story of the legal proceedings brought against members of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) in the early 1980s.

The official National Archives documents confirmed what we already knew about Hayman. A retired diplomat and former High Commissioner in Canada, he was exposed in Private Eye in 1980, named by the MP Geoffrey Dickens under parliamentary privilege in 1981, and scrutinised in the press, where he was linked to PIE.

It is not surprising to learn that reports on Hayman crossed Margaret Thatcher’s desk and that a press ‘line’ was agreed. The authorities’ main concern seems to have been the possible national security implications of Hayman’s indiscretions, demonstrative of long-standing Cold War anxieties about the subversive potential of sexual blackmail.

While the National Archives files – known as PREM 19/588 – suggest there was no official protection of Hayman, that he was not immune from prosecution, and that there was no evidence linking him to specific crimes, a different story exists in alternative archival sources. In particular, the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) Gay Rights Sub-Committee documented events differently.  (more...)

'Official' papers may not tell whole story of historical paedophilia scandal

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