IHAVE read your Opinion (LET, February 27) on Freemasonry and the report of the home affairs select committee to which I gave evidence on February 26.
The 'evidence' to which you refer was, in fact, comment by a member of the committee, Mr Mullin. I rebutted the misinformation about the case he put forward. For the benefit of your readers, I should like to place the events in context.
The Victory Lodge affair was originally raised by another witness, Mr Martin Short, in a statement to the committee on December 18 which contained inaccuracies.
On behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Mr Whitehouse made it clear to the committee on January 29 that, of the 100 people at this party, no more than 15 were Freemasons.
He told the committee: "They did not accidentally intrude into the party: they went into a party which was advertised in the hotel as quite clearly a private function.
"There was a message in all the rooms to that effect and there was a notice in reception. There was an ordinary notice in the hotel lobby about room such and such, and everyone in the room, save the two people who intruded, were either in dinner jackets or evening gowns, whereas they were in lounge suits." According to Mr Whitehouse, the Chief Constable decided to settle civil proceedings out of court because the principal witness was so ill that his evidence could not be relied upon. Mr Whitehouse went on to say: "In the investigation, which was carried out by the Lancashire Constabulary into this particular case, neither of the men co-operated with the investigating officer."
Victory Lodge is not a police lodge - only three of the 48 members in 1988 were policemen. There were no solicitor members of the lodge. The Director of Public Prosecution, Dame Barbara Mills, told the committee that the Crown Prosecutor involved in the case was not a Mason.
There is no evidence whatsoever that there was Masonic influence either in the incident or in the outcome of the court cases.
MBS HIGHAM, Commander, Royal Navy, Grand Secretary, United Grand Lodge of England, Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street, London WC2.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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