Israeli institutions removing plaques bearing Lord Janner

Institutions in Israel have begun removing plaques bearing the name of Lord (Greville) Janner after prosecutors said the only reason they weren’t charging the peer for a string of child sex offences was because he had dementia.

This week, an Israeli nursery in the Galilee town of Ma’alot Tarshiha took down the plague for the Lord Greville Janner Education Centre following allegations that the peer was a prolific child abuser.

At the 2012 ceremony, the town’s mayor, Shlomoa Buhbut, praised ex-MP and amateur magician Janner for “building bridges” and added: “There is no better place in Israel than to have our kindergarten named for you.”

Allegations first began circling Janner in 1991, with four subsequent child sex abuse investigations, and several men saying that, as boys, they were abused by Janner in the 70s and 80s. 

Only this year did prosecutors finally decide there was enough evidence to charge Janner with 22 counts of sexual abuse of children, including buggery, but chose not to do so, on the basis that the 86-year old was now too ill to stand trial. 

Victim support groups have been left enraged, and the case will now form part of a wider investigation into allegations of an establishment cover-up, with police chiefs giving evidence to this effect.

Janner’s family have said he is “completely innocent”.