By Maesam Khan: A convicted sex attacker stood just yards away from Queen on Diamond jubilee celebrations. Harbinder Singh Rana, 52, guest of Prince Charles on Spirit of Chartwell, belongs to Walsall area near Birmingham. He was sentenced to four years of jail in August 1986 for five counts of indecent assaults, 11 counts of assaults causing actual body harm one count of attempted assault. He said that he had never been asked for the criminal record, ‘I was given the invitation and I invited’, says Rana. Steve McCabe, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, who sits on the Home Affairs select committee, said: “It is an astonishing situation in terms of security. I’m flabbergasted.” However, a spokesman for Clarence House said: “The office of Prince Charles was unaware of his previous convictions. During his trial in 1986, a jury heard how he tricked his way into his victims’ homes by posing as a doctor before subjecting them to internal examinations – even giving some of the women injections, but resources said that he has worked as ‘management consultant’ in the past. However, the invite came through the prince’s office; questions were being asked yesterday about why apparently no checks were carried out on his background before he was allowed on board? Is this a security lap? And what if other VIPs – especially women, came to know that a convicted sex attacker is amongst them at that time? These questions need to be answered.
