Probe: The IPCC is to investigate a retired officer's claims he was told to keep quiet about Cyril Smith (pictured) after seeing him at a sex party with two boys in Stockport in 1988 . The police watchdog is to examine claims that a paedophile sergeant ordered a junior officer not to tell anyone after catching Cyril Smith at a sex party with two boys. The account of the officer, then a young beat bobby but now retired, that he was threatened with the Official Secrets Act after he found the 29-stone Liberal MP at the home of a known sex offender in 1988 was the latest piece of evidence of an Establishment cover-up of Smith’s decades of abuse. Yesterday the Independent Police Complaints Commission ( IPCC) announced it would be overseeing the investigation into the unnamed ex-officer’s claims. He came forward earlier this month to describe how as a probationary officer he discovered Smith at the party with a prolific sex offender and two drunk teenage boys in Stockport. Smith and another officer in civilian clothes who was also present walked off, he said, while one boy left and the other was taken back to his children’s home. He claimed that the following day he was called to a meeting by a senior officer and Sergeant Don Mackintosh and told he would be breaching the Official Secrets Act if he ever told anyone. ‘In no uncertain terms I was told to say nothing,’ he said. ‘They knew Smith was there and knew who he was.’ Mackintosh was later exposed as a prolific abuser of young boys over more than a decade. He was found hanged in his home last year while facing fresh indecent assault allegations. The retired officer claimed that earlier this year he had an anonymous call from a man who warned him to ‘keep your mouth shut’. The allegation about Smith is already being investigated by Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Clifton which is looking at how previous reports of child sexual abuse were handled or allegedly covered up. But yesterday the IPCC said it would now ‘manage’ how the alleged incident in 1988 was investigated. ‘The IPCC’s involvement will ensure independent oversight of the investigation, while ensuring Greater Manchester Police’s wider ongoing criminal investigation is not affected,’ a spokesman said. Serial child abuser Smith, who was MP for Rochdale from 1972 to 1992 and died aged 82 in 2010, escaped possible prosecution at least eight times after orders were made at the highest level to cover up his crimes. The officer was pulled in by Sergeant Don Mackintosh, who turned out to be paedophile, left, who threatened him with the Official Secrets Act and told him to stay silent about his claims over Smith (right) Last year the Daily Mail exposed his pervert past when it serialised Labour MP for Rochdale Simon Danczuk’s book, Smile For The Camera: The Double Life Of Cyril Smith. It revealed Smith avoided police and court action for decades despite leaving a trail of victims. Most recently, the Mail revealed how a former chief constable of Lancashire was told in the late 1970s that an official at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had asked his force to lie about past investigations into Smith. Mr Danczuk said: ‘I welcome the fact that the IPCC are investigating the possibility of a police paedophile cover-up. This incident suggests there could have been a paedophile network straddling both politics and the police.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
Independent Police Complaint Commission to look into latest claims . Retired police officer said MP was protected by sex-offender sergeant . Was investigating MP but probe was shut down by 'very senior officer'
Don Mackintosh, who turned out to be paedophile, told officer stay silent . Rochdale MP had repeatedly escaped police and court action for decades .