9 November 2012 Last updated at 12:29 ET

Lord McAlpine 'to take legal action' over abuse claims

Lord McAlpine issued his response amid claims over abuse at a north Wales children's home

Lord McAlpine has "no choice" but to take legal action over claims of abuse at a north Wales children's home, the Conservative peer's solicitor has said.

Andrew Reid said claims linking the peer to alleged historical child abuse were "false and seriously defamatory".

The solicitor was critical of the BBC's Newsnight, on which claims were made although no-one was named.

The BBC said the Newsnight broadcast had voiced concerns raised by an abuse victim, in the public interest.

Steve Messham, a former resident of the Bryn Estyn children's home in Wrexham, claimed on Newsnight that he had been abused by an unnamed senior politician of the Thatcher era.

But in a statement on Friday Lord McAlpine, 70, who was Conservative Party treasurer from the late 1970s until 1990, said he had been named on the internet and by implication by other media over the claims.

Some newspapers on Friday reported that the peer had been a victim of mistaken identity.

Asked by BBC Radio 4's PM programme if Lord McAlpine would take legal action, Mr Reid said: "Sadly he has no choice.

"We need to take a number of different actions. Firstly to try to get this taken down from the internet which is not going to be easy.

"Then we have to look at Newsnight and.. the way in which they behaved, the way they trailed, they made it obvious who it was, or who they alleged it was by referring people to the internet.

"And all the others who have used the internet and just let people know where to go and find the answer because they made these statements recklessly."

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Newsnight broadcast an investigation into alleged failures in a child abuse inquiry. It worked with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism to give a voice to concerns raised by an abuse victim.

"It was in the public interest to air these. We did not name any public figure for legal reasons. It is now for the inquiries announced by the home secretary to dig deeper into Mr Messham's concerns."

Source : bbc[dot]co[dot]uk