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Files on historic child abuse 'can't be found'

A review into how the Home Office handled historic child sex abuse allegations at Westminster in the 1980s has reportedly been unable to uncover any of the crucial missing files that prompted the investigation.

The BBC reports that the so-called 'Dickens Dossier', handed to the Home Office by former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens, has not been found.

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Civil servants who handled dossier 'not yet come forward'

Labour MP John Mann said he was concerned that civil servants who dealt with a dossier related to child abuse at the time had not come forward to give evidence to NSPCC chief Peter Wanless, because they are forbidden to reveal information about it by the Official Secrets Act.

Mr Mann told BBC Radio 4's Today programme:

"While I understand the file is really a list of names and not much more than that, I've also spoken to a journalist who's still alive today - Don Hale - who was given a list of names, but more importantly a whole series of Home Office minutes of meetings looking into this issue, by the late Barbara Castle.

All those files very quickly - a couple of days after he was given them by Barbara Castle - were seized by the security services and Special Branch.

There are civil servants, maybe retired now, who do know a lot and they have not come forward to Wanless, and that's a problem.

– John Mann, Labour

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