Margaret Thatcher warned of paedophile scandal, secret documents reveal

Margaret Thatcher , the former prime minister, was kept fully informed about an investigation into a senior diplomat who was embroiled in a paedophile scandal, newly-released secret documents show.

Mrs Thatcher received a stream of memos from officials about the “unnatural sexual proclivities” of Sir Peter Hayman.

The prime minister was carefully coached on how to deflect difficult questions about the affair after it was finally exposed by Private Eye magazine in 1980.

The documents disclosed for the first time that Hayman had been engaged in “sexual perversion” since at least 1966, when he was a minister in the British military government in West Berlin.

The 37-page dossier set out how the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to prosecute the diplomat after he was caught with a collection of paedophile material in 1978.

It also shows the DPP never informed the government or the security services about Hayman’s proclivities, despite concerns enemy spies could have been blackmailing him for sensitive information during his time abroad.

The new information appeared to undermine claims that the decision not to prosecute Hayman was part of an Establishment conspiracy to cover up child abuse .

It said the decision was not referred to the security services at all, either because Hayman was already retired or because there was a communications breakdown between DPP and MI5.

“An attempt was made to contact Security Services [by the DPP] when the first police report was under consideration,” the dossier said.

“The contact was unavailable and his secretary said he would ring back – he did not do so.

“Later, the final decision not to prosecute was reached and the need to chase the unreturned telephone call was overlooked.”

_{Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet in 1980}

The documents also said Hayman’s offence was not serious enough to merit charges, according to policies then in force.

The papers demonstrate Whitehall’s shock at its failure to detect Hayman’s activities earlier, and concerns that vetting procedures may need to be stepped up to prevent a repeat of the mistake.

However, it remains unexplained why Hayman’s arrest for possessing paedophile material was hushed up between 1978 and the publication of the Private Eye story two years later.

The file contains a memo in Mrs Thatcher’s handwriting to Sir Michael Havers, the then Attorney General .

^{A handwritten memo from Margaret Thatcher to Sir Michael Havers}

On 10 Downing Street notepaper, and dated March 20, 1981, it says: “So that there be no doubt, I leave to your judgment whether or not you are interviewed on media or TV about the Hayman matter.”

Signed “Margaret”, the memo is the final chronological entry in the file which has been released to the National Archives, titled "PREM 19/588 SECURITY. Sir Peter Hayman: allegations against former public official of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects.”