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."
Lord McAlpine says abuse claims false and defamatory
Lord McAlpine issued his response amid claims over abuse at a North Wales children's home
Conservative peer Lord McAlpine has said allegations linking him to alleged historical child abuse are "wholly false and seriously defamatory".
The ex-treasurer released a statement after a man claimed he had been abused at a care home in Wrexham.
Lord McAlpine said he had visited Wrexham "only once" and that he had been in the company of an agent from Conservative Central Office.
He said he had "never" been to the children's home linked to the claims.
Lord McAlpine's denial comes after Steve Messham claimed on the BBC's Newsnight that he had been abused by a senior politician of the Thatcher era, who was not named.
In his statement, Lord McAlpine said: "I have never been to the children's home in Wrexham, nor have I ever visited any children's home, reform school or any other institution of a similar nature.
"I have never stayed in a hotel in or near Wrexham, I did not own a Rolls-Royce, have never had a 'Gold card' or 'Harrods card' and never wear aftershave, all of which have been alleged.
"I did not sexually abuse Mr Messham or any other residents of the children's home in Wrexham."
He said he had decided to "publicly tackle these slurs and set the record straight".
'Witch-hunt'
His statement comes after David Cameron said he feared a "witch-hunt" by those commenting online about child abuse allegations.
The prime minister was commenting on the This Morning programme after being unexpectedly handed a list of names of people who the ITV1 show's presenter said were being mentioned online as paedophiles.
Presenter Phillip Schofield, who said he had based the list on internet speculation, has been criticised for his actions during the live interview which had been addressing historical claims of a paedophile ring linked to No 10.
Mr Cameron, who did not look at the list, said he was "worried" that speculation about unproven allegations could lead to a "witch-hunt particularly against people who are gay" and advised anyone with evidence of abuse to go to the police.
London Mayor Boris Johnson branded it a "rum piece of journalism" and Labour's Chuka Umunna said it had been "foolish and irresponsible".
Meanwhile, TV regulator Ofcom said it had received complaints about the programme.
The abuse claims centred around the Bryn Estyn children's home in north Wales
The author of a shelved report into abuse at children's homes in the 1970s and 1980s said public figures were not among names given by victims.
John Jillings said he did not recall allegations that children were taken from north Wales homes and abused.
One victim said an independent inquiry commissioned by Clwyd County Council, on which the report was based, would have been told of such abuse claims.
Steve Messham criticised Mr Jillings' recollection about the names given.
The home secretary has launched a new police inquiry into the abuse allegations.
The report was commissioned by Clwyd County Council in March 1994 after claims of widespread abuse across almost 40 homes in north Wales emerged, but was never published because of legal concerns.
'Memory fading'
When asked what names emerged from the victims, Mr Jillings told BBC4's World At One: "I'd rather not get involved in listing names because it's a long time behind me, they didn't include well-known people in public life."
"The people the investigation focussed on, because these were the people that the children spoke to us about, were staff members."
Claims of alleged abuse were highlighted last week when Mr Messham said the subsequent government-commissioned Waterhouse inquiry had uncovered only a fraction of the abuse.
"In the home it was the standard abuse which was violent and sexual. Outside it was like you were sold," he told BBC Newsnight, and detailed being tied down and raped in a hotel room.
In an interview with BBC reporter Sima Kotecha, Mr Jillings was asked if he remembered Mr Messham's allegations.
"I don't recall it, no. My memory may be fading but I don't remember that was one of the issues he raised with us. I can remember very, very serious allegations of abuse by staff members," he said.
He was also asked whether he had heard claims by one of the victims of abuse by a leading Thatcher-era Conservative politician who is still alive.
"Not to the best of my knowledge. I'm sure that would have lodged in my mind and we would have wanted to investigate it had we known about it."
Mr Messham said if he had taken part in the inquiry, it would have had copies of his statements in which he had always been "crystal clear" about who abused him.
"To say that people outside the homes weren't named, that is completely wrong as well. He says however, and credit to him in this way, 'well my remit was to investigate the staff in the homes'.
"Well, yes, OK, that was his remit but to say he wasn't told of any abuse that took place outside the homes, to say he wouldn't be told about the hotel in Wrexham, I think is appalling."
Mr Messham said he could not remember speaking to the inquiry but he said he always relied on his police statements - which were "crystal clear" about who abused him.
"If I was certainly in front of inquiry I would have mentioned the hotels, I would have mentioned these people," he said.
Mr Jillings said he was led to believe the report was not published because the county council's insurers felt it could result in individual children suing for compensation in a way that could have been costly.
"We were very frustrated, we were concerned on behalf of the children, we felt that we had wasted an enormous amount of time and effort and not to be able to publish the report was totally unacceptable," he said.
Municipal Mutual Insurance said that based upon legal advice it considered the report prepared by Mr Jillings had not been suitable for publication.
A spokesman said: "The Waterhouse tribunal commented in its report entitled Lost in Care, that it was almost inevitable that there would be allegations of a 'cover up' by Clwyd. However, the tribunal accepted these allegations were unjustified."
Mr Jillings said some of the victims may have deliberately not mentioned well-known people when being questioned because they were frightened of the repercussions.
Jane Tunstill, who also worked on the report, told the BBC she did not remember any of the victims talking about politicians.
Fresh allegations
Earlier, the Conservative Party said it would ensure there was a full investigation into claims one of Thatcher's aides was involved in child abuse.
On Tuesday, Channel 4 News broadcast an allegation from an unnamed former resident of Bryn Estyn that he had seen the late Sir Peter Morrison - a former close aide to Mrs Thatcher - visit the care home on several occasions in the 1980s and drive away with one of the boys living there.
Sir Peter, who was MP for Chester from 1974 to 1992, died in 1995.
Meanwhile, the children's commissioner for Wales said his office had received 38 calls since Mr Messham spoke out.
Keith Towler said some of the calls were from people who "wanted to make fresh allegations" of abuse.
The alleged abuse centring on children's homes in north Wales - and specifically the Bryn Estyn home at Wrexham - began to emerge in the 1990s.
North Wales Police investigated the claims in 1991 and of eight prosecutions, seven former care workers were convicted.
But it was widely believed that the abuse was on a far greater scale, prompting the setting up of a public inquiry in 1996 which was headed by Sir Ronald Waterhouse and heard evidence from 650 people.
After the report was published in 2000, there were 140 compensation claims settled on behalf of the victims, and numerous recommendations about children in care homes.
Derby fire: Third murder charge over children's deaths
Five of the children died in the fire, and the eldest three days later in hospital
A 45-year-old man has been charged with the murders of six children who died in a house fire in Derby.
Jade Philpott, 10, brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jessie, six, and Jayden, five, died in the fire in May and their brother Duwayne, 13, three days later.
Paul Mosley, of Derby, is accused of their murders and is due at the city's magistrates' court on Tuesday.
Mick Philpott, 55, and wife Mairead, 31, the children's parents, have previously been charged with murder.
'Investigation will continue'
The fatal house fire broke out in Victory Road, Allenton, on 11 May.
A 49-year-old man who was arrested alongside Mr Mosley earlier on Monday has been released without charge.
Mr and Mrs Philpott are due at a plea and case management hearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday.
Assistant chief constable Steve Cotterill said: "Three people have now been charged with the murder of these children. The man [Paul Mosley] stands accused alongside Michael and Mairead Philpott.
"Our investigation will continue in an effort to gain justice for these children."
Lord McAlpine issued his response amid claims over abuse at a north Wales children's home 
