Children's home workers should be protected from false allegations of abuse, according to an influential group of MPs.

While there was a need to protect children from assaults, it was important the reputations and careers of innocent people were not destroyed by false claims, the Commons Home Affairs select committee said.

I am in no doubt that a number of innocent people have been convicted

Chris Mullin

Care workers should be given full anonymity unless convicted because police probes into child abuse allegations that sometimes dated back decades, had created "a new genre of miscarriages of justice", MPs added.

But Chief Constable Terry Grange, the Association of Chief Police Officer's spokesman on child protection issues, said there was no evidence of such a raft of miscarriages of justice.

Trawling for suspects

The committee looked at methods used by some of the 34 police forces in England and Wales who have mounted allegations into children's homes and other institutions.

Chris Mullin: "Innocent people convicted"

They focused on police tactics of "trawling" for information, where officers made unsolicited contact with former residents of the homes to see if any further abuse allegations arose.

Committee chairman Chris Mullin (Lab) said: "I am in no doubt that a number of innocent people have been convicted and that many other innocent people, who have not been convicted, have had their lives ruined."

MPs said they held reservations about the conduct of police trawls, but did not accept it should be prohibited, stressing that there should be "clear justification" for its use.

"The plain fact is that many police trawls are not generating evidence of sufficient quality to satisfy the burden of proof," said Mr Mullin.

"A point which is graphically illustrated by the fact that the Crown Prosecution Service rejects a staggering 79% of institutional child abuse cases referred by the police, compared with an overall rejection rate of just 13%."

'I was horrified'

The MPs looked at the record of police in Merseyside where investigations into 510 former care workers suspected of child abuse resulted in 67 being charged, and 36 convictions.

There was a "strong argument" for video or audio taping of police interviews with complainants to ensure officers did not generate false allegations, they said.

The committee heard from one man interviewed by police about his experiences in a home, who said: "They continued to pressurise me into making a complaint.

"I was horrified when I was asked during the interview 'Did Mr B touch you up?

"I was appalled and explained that nothing of that nature went on at the school."

Miscarriages of justice

Clear examples of police bargaining with witnesses had been shown to MPs, the report said, adding that this presented a danger of "generating false or exaggerated evidence".

Proposals for a compulsory time limit on abuse allegations were dismissed, but MPs said there should be a 10-year limit after which prosecutions could only proceed with the court's permission.

One witness guessed that of the 120 former care workers convicted of sexual abuse, 100 had been victims of a miscarriage of justice. Another person put the figure at 50 plus.

David Cameron, a Tory committee member, said: "All allegations of child abuse must be investigated, but guidance is needed to make sure that we avoid miscarriages of justice."

Bob Russell, a Liberal Democrat member, spoke of his increasing alarm at evidence that many people imprisoned for child abuse were "almost certainly innocent".

"I hope that our inquiry will assist those who have been wrongly convicted to seek justice through the Court of Appeal or the Criminal Cases Review Commission," he said.