RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Arrest first - ask questions later: How dawn raids and ransacking houses became standard operating procedure

167 shares Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans was arrested in a blaze of flashbulbs and television lights and accused of rape by two men he had 'regarded as friends'

Now it’s the turn of Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans to have his life turned upside down over allegations of sexual assault.

He was arrested in a blaze of flashbulbs and television lights and accused of rape by two men he had ‘regarded as friends’. His house and car have been searched and bags of ‘evidence’ taken away by detectives. But, as yet, he still hasn’t been charged with anything.

As with the procession of ageing TV personalities targeted by the Jimmy Savile Squad, I make no comment on the veracity of the allegations. They are all innocent until proven guilty. Last night, we learned that Jimmy Tarbuck has been added to the list of celebrities arrested and questioned.

Let me reiterate what I wrote back in January when Jim Davidson had his collar felt at Heathrow Airport over an incident supposed to have taken place 25 years ago.

The police have a duty to investigate complaints of sexual assault. Just because an allegation is ‘historic’ it doesn’t mean it should be ignored. If there is compelling evidence it must be tested in court.

We don’t know the specific details of the accusations made against Nigel Evans. He says he is mystified by the allegations, which he vehemently denies.

Perhaps it really was necessary to subject his property to the full CSI treatment. But what concerns me is the increasing tendency of the police to arrest first and ask questions later in high-profile sex cases.

What used to happen was that someone would make a complaint, the police would take a statement and test its credibility.

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If it appeared that the person being accused had a case to answer, they would initially be interviewed under caution. If the Press got a whiff of it, the Old Bill would say merely that someone was ‘helping with our inquiries’.

When the police were satisfied they had enough evidence, the accused would be charged, named and the law would take its course. After that, reporting restrictions applied until the trial. In the recent spate of celebrity sex cases — and now Nigel Evans — that process is being turned on its head.

The police are formally arresting suspects as a basis for negotiation, even without sufficient potential evidence for a conviction, and then setting about building their case.

Last night, we learned that Jimmy Tarbuck has been added to the list of celebrities arrested and questioned

Back in January, Jim Davidson had his collar felt at Heathrow Airport over an incident supposed to have taken place 25 years ago

It’s part of a trend which first became apparent when they started rounding up journalists in the phone hacking inquiry. Dawn raids and ransacking houses became standard operating procedure.

The reason police now arrest people first as a matter of course is that it spares them the inconvenience of having to apply to a magistrate for a search warrant. This allows them to go on fishing expeditions in search of incriminating evidence.

As I wrote in January, there is also the suspicion that these heavy-handed, high-profile arrests are intended to create an impression of guilt, like the American ‘perp walk’ where suspects are paraded in front of the cameras.

In the case of Stuart Hall, who has confessed to a string of sex offences, the police can rightly claim that their tactics were successful. It was only after his arrest that most of his victims started coming forward and he was shamed into pleading guilty.

Hall’s humiliating downfall also demolishes the ridiculous Leveson recommendation that the names of people suspected of criminal offences should be kept secret. Without the publicity surrounding his arrest, Hall’s victims would have stayed silent and he may have got away with a lifetime of sex crimes.