Britain’s former top soldier Lord Bramall will face no further action after being questioned by detectives investigating child sexual abuse allegations, Scotland Yard has said.
In a statement released on Friday, the Metropolitan police said there was not enough evidence to bring a prosecution.
Bramall was interviewed under caution by officers as part of the police investigation into historical child abuse allegations – Operation Midland – on 30 April last year at a police station near his home in Farnham, Surrey.
The Normandy veteran was never arrested and has always denied the allegations made against him.
The Metropolitan police said: “Officers working on Operation Midland have today, Friday 15 January, informed a man in his 90s from Farnham, who was interviewed under caution on 30 April 2015, that he will face no further action.
“Following a thorough investigation officers have concluded there is insufficient evidence to request the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider charging the man with any offences.”
Bramall is a former chief of the defence staff who retired from the House of Lords in 2013 but retains his peerage.
Officers working on the same operation had earlier searched Bramall’s home. On that occasion, he told the BBC: “Categorically, never have I had a connection or anything to do with the matters being investigated. It is not in my character or my psyche.”
Operation Midland is part of a wider umbrella of investigations by Scotland Yard, dubbed Operation Fairbank, into allegations of abuse involving senior politicians and high-profile figures.
Bramall, as Field Marshal Edwin Bramall, was head of the British army during the Falklands war, before being promoted to the top military post.