Letter from paedophile group links Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt to it AFTER they said it had been marginalised

• 1979 letter from paedophile group supporter contains Ms Harman's initials
• MP and her husband Jack Dromey claim group was 'defeated' before then
• Note asks her civil liberties group to 'defend' members in indecency row
• Patricia Hewitt later replied, accepted £50 donation, and pledged support

By Martin Robinson

Published: 06:41 EDT, 7 March 2014 | Updated: 10:42 EDT, 7 March 2014

More pressure was piled on Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt today after it was revealed they were in contact with a notorious paedophile group after they said it was a spent force.

A 1979 letter from a Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) supporter, containing £50 for 'the defence' of three members facing prosecution, is labelled with Ms Harman's initials.

The Labour deputy leader has said she 'has never had anything to do' with PIE, and the group was 'marginalised' before she joined the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) as legal officer in 1978.

Her shadow minister husband Jack Dromey maintains that PIE was 'defeated' by him in 1976.

Letter: This note from a Paedophile Information Exchange supporter was sent to Harriet Harman after she and others said group was 'marginalised'. It contains a handwritten annotation with 'HH' - Ms Harman's initials - next to it

Denial: : Labour grandees Harriet Harman and her husband Jack Dromey, pictured together last week, say that PIE was defeated by them up to three years before today's letter

But the letter published today arrived three years later, and has a handwritten note next to Harriet Harman's name and says: 'Can we talk about this on Friday? HH'.

The letter was from a PIE fan who wanted the NCCL to help defend three members people being prosecuted for 'conspiracy to corrupt public morals' -  charges linked to indecency.

The typed note was to Harriet Harman and mentioned three men, including founder Tom O'Carroll, who was later jailed for child sex offences.

Its writer said his £50 would 'get the ball rolling' in their defence.

'I got it wrong on PIE and I apologise for having done so': Former Labour cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt has apologised for her links to the paedophile group

In a reply three weeks later, former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, then general secretary of the NCCL, wrote back to accept the funds and said her group was 'extremely concerned' and wanted to do 'everything it can to ensure a successful outcome'.

Ms Harman's spokesman said last night: 'She has no recollection of any discussion arising out of this letter but these issues were not her responsibility and she clearly passed the letter to the then General Secretary.' Ms Hewitt declined to comment.

Jack Dromey's past links to PIE are under continued scrutiny.

The shadow policing minister has angrily denied giving succour to the group as a leading light at the National Council for Civil Liberties in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mr Dromey claims to have led a fight in 1976 to cast the paedophile group ‘into the darkness’ in 1976.

Despite fresh allegations concerning links in years after that he has made no apology, insisting that he always fought against PIE and its aims.

But new documents emerged yesterday showing he contributed to a NCCL handbook two years later which promoted contact information for the vile group.

Mr Dromey also denies backing an NCCL drive to lower the age of consent to 14.

But a 1976 newspaper cutting unearthed from the NCCL’s archives quotes him saying: ‘We anticipated a degree of hysteria when the report was published but we are very happy with the reception.’

Big players: Harriet Harman once legal officer of the NCCL, now Labour Deputy Leader and husband Jack Dromey, right, a Left-wing firebrand, now a shadow minister

One Labour figure yesterday said he was ‘stunned’ by the revelations, describing them as ‘really damaging’.

Another Labour source said there was disquiet within the party about the continuing emergence of allegations that appeared to undermine Mr Dromey’s unapologetic stance.

The NCCL, in which Mr Dromey, Miss Harman and former Labour Cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt were all senior figures, granted the PIE affiliate status for years.

Signed: The Labour Deputy Leader's name is carried at the bottom of a briefing that argued that a pornographic picture of a naked child should not be considered indecent unless it could be proven that the subject had suffered

AGM minutes: This page reveals how the PIE was represented at an NCCL AGM at the University of Lancaster. Below the list of organisations present is Jack Dromey's name, after he was re-elected to the executive committee of the NCCL in 1977

Miss Hewitt last week said the NCCL had been ‘naïve and wrong’ to give support to the paedophile group.

Miss Harman has expressed ‘regret’ over the link, but has refused to apologise, saying her work as the NCCL’s legal officer was never influenced by it.