text: Allegations: Veteran peer Lord Janner (pictured in 2002) has repeatedly denied claims he abused young boys at care homes and is now not fit to stand trial despite 'credible evidence' His name and face may not be immediately familiar to everyone today but, in his pomp, Lord Janner was one of the most prominent Labour politicians and campaigners of his time. His entry in Who’s Who occupies nearly 50 lines: MP for Leicester West (1970-97)… distinguished barrister… author… broadcaster… former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. After training at the University of Cambridge and Harvard Law School, he qualified as a barrister in 1954 and was appointed a QC in 1971. He has fought tirelessly for the return of Jewish assets held in Swiss banks by the Nazis, and was made a life peer on his retirement from the Commons in recognition of his achievements in public life. Those are the bare facts of Greville Janner’s gilded career. For nearly 25 years, however, a shadow has hung over Lord Janner of Braunstone in the same way it did Cyril Smith and a string of other establishment figures. We now know, from victims who have come forward following his death – too many for the allegations not to be true – that late Rochdale MP Smith was a serial paedophile. But was Janner? Detectives have interviewed more than 20 men who claim they were abused by Janner in their youth. It is suspected he used his hobby as a magician – Janner is a member of the Magic Circle – to get close to them and gain their trust when he visited children’s homes in Leicestershire between 1969 and 1988. But the evidence will never be tested in court after Alison Saunders, Director of Public Prosecutions, ruled that it was not in the public interest to put the Labour peer on trial because of his age and ill health. Janner, 86, is a father of three. His youngest daughter, Laura Janner-Klausner, 51, is an ordained rabbi and serves as senior rabbi at the Movement for Reform Judaism. His son Daniel Janner is a prominent QC. Janner’s wife Myra died in 1996 and he has not been seen outside his flat in Hampstead, north-west London, since police investigating the claims of historic sexual abuse raided it in 2013. Shortly afterwards, reports emerged that he was suffering from advanced dementia. In the month before the raid, Janner attended the Lords 15 times, claiming £2,100 in daily allowances, which has inevitably cast a critical spotlight on the decision to not prosecute him. Janner, it should be stressed, strongly denied the allegations against him – including claims of rape – when they surfaced nearly 25 years ago at the trial of Frank Beck, a care-home warden suspected of abusing scores of children in his care. Beck, a former Liberal councillor, was given five life sentences. Yet, the 1991 case made sensational headlines for very different reasons. One of those headlines can be found in a faded newspaper cutting. It reads: ‘My Commons date and night with MP Janner.’ The witness in question was Paul Winston, then aged 30, who lived at one of Beck’s care homes in Janner’s constituency. Mr Winston claimed under oath that Janner had abused him repeatedly between the ages of 13 and 15. Scroll down for video . Pointing: Channel 4 News filmed Lord Jenner outside his house in London on July 8 2014, in what was is the most recent moving image of the Labour peer . Director of Public Prosecutions: Last year, Alison Saunders (pictured) said prosecutors will pursue justice for victims of child sex crimes whether their cases were '30 days or 30 years old' - but not in the Janner case . He said that he had sex with Janner in a Holiday Inn hotel, at the MP’s home when his wife and children were away, and visited him in the Commons. The jury were shown letters the MP is said to have sent to him on House of Commons notepaper. Some were reportedly signed ‘love Greville’. They are now in the hands of the police. One was alleged to have been penned by Janner after they had stayed together at his home. ‘It feels strange not to have you flipping around me like a friendly flea!,’ the letter said. ‘In fact – I miss you.’ Referring to an encounter in the swimming pool of the Holiday Inn, Mr Winston said: ‘I was fondled in my private area. It seemed at first like a bit of fun, being thrown around the water, but he would hold me close.’ Beck used the testimony as part of his defence: that he was being prosecuted to divert attention from Janner and other high-profile (unnamed) paedophiles and that he was trying to shield the boys under his charge from them. Paul Winston was not the only witness to implicate Janner. Two others were called for the prosecution, saying Beck had raped them, but in cross-examination, they appeared to confirm some details of Mr Winston’s story. Probes: Greville Janner, left in 1974, served as an MP for decades and was investigated in 1991, 2002 and 2007. Janner was mentioned during the trial of paediophile Frank Beck, right,  who died in jail . One, a woman, said she heard an argument between Beck and Mr Winston in which he [Beck] was shouting that he wasn’t [allowed] to see Greville Janner any more.’ The other, a man, said Mr Winston had boasted about ‘having friends in high places’. Were the allegations made simply to muddy the waters? The jury thought so, finding Beck, who died in prison in 1994, guilty of the majority of charges against him. Days later, Janner, then in his 60s, broke his silence on the affair by making a personal statement to Parliament. Under parliamentary rules, personal statements are not debatable, so there were no follow-up questions from MPs. Janner told them: ‘There was, of course, not a shred of truth in any of the allegations of criminal conduct against me during the trial. ‘Meanwhile, as my wife, my family and I have had a taste of the suffering which Beck can impose on innocent people, will you join me in sending the real sufferers, the individuals who endured his homes and whose lives have been wrecked at his hands, the profound sympathy of us all?’ His statement was greeted with cheers. Fellow Labour MP Keith Vaz described Janner as a ‘brave man’ and others passed on leader Neil Kinnock’s ‘tremendous support’. Police interviewed Janner and Mr Winston, but no charges were ever brought against the MP. One of the detectives who worked on the Frank Beck case was Mick Creedon, who is now Chief Constable of Derbyshire. Last year he made a sensational claim in The Times. He said there was ‘credible evidence’ against Janner and that he and his colleagues wanted to make an arrest but were prevented by ‘more senior people’ from doing so. To put it bluntly, the investigation was blocked. Influential: Lord Janner was chair of the Holocaust Educational Trust and vice-president of the World Jewish Congress . Mr Creedon said: ‘The decision was a clear one: he [Janner] will be interviewed by appointment and there won’t be a search of his home address or his constituency office, of his office in the House of Commons. It was a decision made by people more senior than me.’ The allegations against Janner remained buried in newspaper archives until the authorities began re-opening historic child abuse cases in the wake of the Jimmy Savile affair. Many revolve around the Elm Guest House, a gay sauna in Barnes, west London, where boys are believed to have been abused by a string of powerful men in the 1970s and 1980s, including Cyril Smith. One of the people who contacted the police was Paul Winston. At the same time, two booklets from the archives of former MP Andrew Faulds – who died in 2000 – emerged. One, a four-page leaflet entitled Janner Fails to Answer ‘Sex With Boy’ Evidence and published by a group calling itself Concerned Leicester Parents, landed on the prominent Labour backbencher’s desk in 1992. The second, a 24-page booklet entitled Is Grenville Janner QC, MP, Above the Law?, arrived in 1995. Both booklets appear to have been printed professionally and sent anonymously to Mr Faulds (and presumably to several other influential figures) by individuals anxious to ensure further attention was paid to the 1991 trial. While Janner’s health has made the prospect of prosecution impossible, the stench of an establishment cover-up will continue to surround this deeply troubling case . The 1995 booklet provides a detailed account of an alleged victim’s testimony. It tells how the boy spoke of meeting Janner in the Commons when he was 13. He said was invited to Janner’s home when his wife was away. ‘We ended up in his bed together and he cuddled me. We cuddled and fondled together. I didn’t like it and told him to stop.’ So began a two-year sexual relationship, the boy claimed. The booklet also says that the boy ‘had been able to provide the police with information about Janner’s home, hotel rooms, life, habits and person in... infinite and verifiable detail’. The 1992 leaflet also refers to an alleged victim’s ‘detailed’ evidence: ‘Such evidence, submitted under oath... requires a specific and detailed refutation.’ Crown prosecution lawyers have spent nine months studying volumes of evidence gathered by Leicestershire police against Janner. This week officers visited Mr Winston, now in his mid-50s and living on the outskirts of Leicester, and other alleged victims in person to inform them of the decision not to proceed with the case. It has raised further questions about the CPS in the face of growing criticism of the conduct of Operation Elveden against tabloid journalists. This is the fourth time that Janner has escaped prosecution. He was interviewed by police after the Beck trial, and was the subject of further allegations of abuse in 2002, but these were not referred to the CPS. A third investigation was launched in 2006 after police received a complaint from yet another alleged victim. A dossier was passed to the CPS which decided there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to bring charges. Inevitably, while Janner’s health has made the prospect of prosecution impossible, the stench of an establishment cover-up will continue to surround this deeply troubling case.
target: Lord Janner will not face prosecution despite facing credible evidence .
  Director of Public Prosecutions says decision comes with 'deep regret'
  Alison Saunders tells of botched investigations in 1991, 2002 and 2007 .
  Former Labour MP allegedly preyed on boys in 1960s, 1970s and 1980s .