article: Lord Janner sent a ‘thank you’ Christmas card to a detective after learning he would escape child sex abuse charges, it emerged yesterday . Lord Janner sent a ‘thank you’ Christmas card to a detective after learning he would escape child sex abuse charges, it emerged yesterday. The officer said he was appalled by the Labour peer’s note after his superiors forced him to drop his inquiries into Janner’s alleged sex abuse. The note thanked him for how he had dealt with the issue, and even invited him and his wife to dinner at Parliament. The revelation of Janner’s apparent attempt to influence the police came amid fresh concerns about the Establishment cover-up of the Labour grandee’s alleged paedophilia. Detectives have carried out four child sex inquiries into Janner since 1991, but attempts to bring him to justice were repeatedly blocked. Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders announced earlier this month that he should been have charged on each occasion. But she went on to rule that the 86-year-old peer should not face prosecution because of his dementia. The decision has caused outrage – with critics pointing out that he signed letters in the House of Lords as recently as this month, and had held numerous dinners and events in Parliament since being diagnosed in 2009. It has also been revealed that Mrs Saunders was a pupil at the same legal chambers as Janner – although she claims she never met him. The furore over her decision grew yesterday as it emerged that: . The policeman who led the original investigation into Janner in the early 1990s spoke yesterday of how he was ‘gutted’ after orders to drop the case came ‘from the very top’. Retired Detective Inspector Kelvyn Ashby, of Leicestershire Police, said his team uncovered evidence supporting allegations that the then-Leicester MP used his home and a hotel to abuse a teenage boy. He said he and fellow investigator Mick Creedon, now Chief Constable of Derbyshire Police, were prevented from arresting Janner. Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders ruled that the 86-year-old peer should not face prosecution because of his dementia . ‘Someone higher up told us that we couldn’t just arrest an MP and it went no further. We were told that by someone senior, who I can’t name, but the order had to have come from the very top. I’m sure my bosses’ hands were tied,’ he told The Mail on Sunday. ‘I was extremely frustrated. Janner should have been arrested. He was treated differently because he was an MP.’ Mr Ashby, 65, added: ‘The bit that really got me was that I later got a Christmas card in the post from Greville Janner. ‘The card was an official House of Commons Christmas card and was handwritten. Retired Detective Inspector Kelvyn Ashby, of Leicestershire Police, received a thank you note from Janner . ‘It said something like “I was very pleased with the way you treated me” and invited me and my wife for a dinner at the House of Commons. I couldn’t believe it. My wife was disgusted, as was I. Needless to say we never replied and never went.’ The decision not to charge Janner in 1991 was taken just weeks after Sir Allan Green quit as Director of Public Prosecutions when he was caught kerb crawling in King’s Cross in London. His deputy David Gandy took over temporarily until a full-time replacement was appointed the next year. But Mr Gandy, 83, yesterday said he could not remember seeing Janner’s case file. He told The Daily Mail: ‘I have no knowledge of it whatsoever. It may well be the decision was taken by someone else in the department or it could have been sent out for senior counsel to make a decision on. Whatever happened I simply don’t have any knowledge of it.’ Even Janner’s barrister, the late George Carman QC, who was instructed to defend him after the abuse allegations became public in 1991, was astonished that he escaped prosecution. His son Dominic Carman said: ‘My father was surprised that Janner was not charged. ‘He suspected there may have been some attempt to influence the decision by the DPP, although there was no proof.’ Investigative website Exaro said the four experts who examined the peer had not all agreed on the six key points about the nature and extent of his illness outlined in Mrs Saunders’s statement on why she was not going to charge him. Janner’s family have issued a statement insisting he is ‘entirely innocent of any wrongdoing’. Lawyers for Janner’s alleged victims could demand medical tests to check the extent of his dementia. Child abuse campaigners have questioned how the former Labour MP was able to sign a letter to the House of Lords on April 9, just a week before prosecutors said he would not face charges because of his deteriorating dementia. Now it has emerged that Janner could be examined by experts as part of compensation claims brought by his alleged victims. Richard Scorer, of law firm Slater and Gordon, told the Observer: ‘I have certainly dealt with civil claims before where the alleged abuser has claimed to have dementia, and we have been able to have them medically examined in relation to that.’
highlights: Janner sent the card to detective after learning he would not be charged .
  Christmas card even invited retired Kelvyn Ashby to dinner at Parliament .
  Former policeman said he was appalled by the Labour peer's note .
  Officer says superiors forced him to drop inquiries into alleged sex abuse .
  Four medical experts who examined the peer did not all agree on the nature and extent of his dementia, as outlined by Mrs Saunders; .
  Janner’s own barrister was surprised he escaped charges in 1991, and suspected attempts to influence the prosecutors’ decision; .
  The Director of Public Prosecutions in charge at the time said he could not even remember seeing the politician’s file.
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