Ex-Met sergeant John Hudson, who died in 2008 having escaped justice after sexually abusing his foster daughter Marina Narayan from the age of six, was shielded ‘because he was Freemason’, she believes
Corruption among Freemason cops must be rooted out after a paedophile detective allegedly escaped justice because he was a member, his victim has said.
John Hudson began sexually abusing Marina Narayan when she was just six-years-old, having fostered her as a baby in 1966, with his wife June. Hudson, a former detective sergeant in the Metropolitan Police, was never charged with any offence despite Marina reporting him to his force on three occasions.
Two relatives said he was a Freemason and one claimed he boasted about being tipped off during one probe by his friends in the police. The case was uncovered during a long-running investigation by the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, led by Raymond Stevenson and Lucia Hinton.
Marina, now 60, has waived her right to anonymity to highlight her concerns about Freemasonry in the police after Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley forced his officers to declare membership.
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Sir Mark acted after intelligence indicated earlier this year that three of five detectives arrested on suspicion of covering up a policewoman’s sexual assault complaint against a senior colleague are in the fraternity.
The force confirmed last month that 316 officers and staff had so far declared a membership to the Freemasons or a hierarchical association. Marina, now a grandmother, said: “Of course corrupt Freemason police officers should be removed from their positions. There has been a problem with this issue for many years but it’s something that’s never been addressed. As a result of this many victims, of various crimes committed by police officers, have never received justice.
“The protection that being a member of this organisation and, indeed, other secret organisations affords them makes some think they’re untouchable and that needs to be changed.” Marina said she wanted the Met to recognise their involvement in the cover up of Hudson’s case.
She added: “Mark Rowley has done something that should have been done decades ago, so well done Mark Rowley. In terms of the Freemasons I think shame on you. Shame on you for protecting paedophiles.”
Mr Stevenson said: “”We are going to approach the Freemasons with the evidence we’ve got and we’re going to ask them on record, was Hudson a Freemason? Which lodge did he attend? We’re going to give the Freemasons an opportunity to show whether they are really as honorable as they pretend.”
Marina was accused of making up the abuse by cops and prosecutors when she came forward in 1979, 1999 and 2006. In 2020 she had misconduct complaints upheld by the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, in relation to failings in the 1979 and 2006 investigations.
Marina got some justice ten years ago when June Entecott, then 80, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for lying to prevent her ex-husband from being prosecuted.
The jury’s guilty verdicts meant they had found that Hudson had sexually abused Marina and a second girl, who cannot be named.
Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith praised Marina saying it was only her “determination” which led to the case coming to court. Marina said: “All my life I had been branded a liar, by police, social services and I wasn’t a liar and there was just this..I’m a strong person and I wasn’t a liar and I had to clear my name for my own sanity.”
Hudson died aged 77 in 2008 after separating from his nurse wife and moving to Thailand. He is understood to have been a member of the notorious Obscene Publications Squad, also known as the “Porn Squad” or the “Dirty Squad”. The unit was at the centre of one of the biggest corruption scandals in Met police history when the Freemason head “Nasty” Bill Moody was jailed for 12 years in 1977.
Hudson was booted out of the Met for misconduct in 1973 after a new Met Commissioner, Robert Mark, created a new anti-corruption unit: A-10. Their work, along with efforts by newspaper journalists, led to the jailing of Moody and his boss and fellow Freemason, Commander Wally Virgo.
Investigative journalist Martin Short wrote in his book, Inside the Brotherhood, that: “Under Virgo the Porn Squad was almost entirely Masonic.” But Mr Short also pointed out that Freemason officers had given evidence against fellow corrupt members.
Two of Sir Mark’s leading anti-corruption officers, Dept Asst Comm Gilbert Kelland and DAC Ron Steventon, were also both Freemasons and “neither spared their brethren from the anti-corruption knife”, Mr Short wrote. The IOPC investigation into Marina’s complaints found there was evidence Hudson had an “inappropriate association” with former police officer, John Symonds.
Symonds, also a corrupt Freemason detective, spoke out publicly after he was investigated for misconduct in 1972 by Moody, who he knew at the time was taking bribes from pornographers in Soho.
He said: “I sent a message to Moody through another Freemason saying that I wouldn’t stand for the fit up, I knew what was going on and unless he stopped doing what he was doing I intended to expose everything that I knew about the Metropolitan Police, corruption, Freemasonry and its involvement in corruption, himself and the Porn Squad, which I knew about.” Symonds said Moody dropped the probe and paid him £2,000.
He added: “One of the dangers and one of the wrong things about Freemasonry within the police force is you have here a group of people who have loyalties which are stronger and more important to them than their loyalties to the police force and to the public as their oath.”
Mr Stevenson said his investigation revealed Hudson was “embedded in the corruption”. He added: “One of the family members told us something which shocked us when she said he laughed and said don’t worry, I’m being tipped off by my mates.”
We revealed last year that Mr Stevenson suspects that former Shirley Oaks children’s home worker and paedophile Donald Hosegood was protected because he was a Freemason. Hosegood went on trial in 1975 for counts of rape and indecent assault four children but the case collapsed. One of his alleged victims later took his own life.
Further allegations of sexual abuse were made against Hosegood in 1998 to the Operation Middleton inquiry Lambeth, South London, but officers falsely claimed he had died. He finally died in 2011 without facing justice.
SOSA’s work led to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that found hundreds of children in Lambeth’s care were subjected to prolonged sexual, racial and physical abuse. The inquiry, which SOSA refused to participate in, found Hosegood had waved a masonic handbook at the officers who arrested him.
It said it did not receive any “direct evidence” of Freemasonry influencing or obstructing investigations. David Staples, then the head of the United Grand Lodge of England, could only confirm Hosegood was a member after being given a number of names. He said: “I think it would be difficult with absolute certainty to say that somebody was not.”
The UGLE said this week that they could find no record of Hudson being a Freemason. It said: “We are very saddened to hear about the sexual abuse you have described, and we feel for the victim. We cannot comment about how the Metropolitan Police investigated reported crimes nearly 50 years ago or indeed more recently. We have reviewed our records from the time and have found no records of any Freemasons matching Hudson or Symonds, based on the details you provided.
“We can confirm that Bill Moody and Wally Virgo were Freemasons who were brought to justice by fellow Freemasons. We believe and would expect all corrupt police officers should be removed from office regardless of what organisations they are members of.
“We are not aware of the reason you note for Sir Mark Rowley’s decision to impose what we assert to be illegal, discriminatory and unfair requirements on the MPS officers who are members and would encourage Sir Mark to focus on the real issues that have caused the lack of public trust that were identified in Baroness Casey’s Review and the Angiolini Inquiry Report. We assert that there is nothing secret about Freemasonry and encourage anybody to find out more about how they can join and contribute to our charitable efforts.”
Det Chief Supt Neil Smithson, Directorate of Professional Standards, said: “We recognise the harm suffered by the victims of former Met officer John Hudson and extend our full sympathies for the trauma they have endured. It is a matter of regret that he wasn’t brought to justice while he was alive.”
The Met would not comment on whether Hudson was a Freemason but it is understood the force believe such allegations highlight the need for transparency around membership. Freemason organisations are seeking a judicial review to block officers being forced to declare membership, which they say is discriminatory.
