VICTIM support groups and Leicestershire Police condemned a contentious decision by prosecutors not to charge a veteran Labour peer with sexual abuse crimes yesterday.

Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders said it was not in the public interest to proceed with a case against Lord Greville Janner QC.

Lord Janner, who served as an MP for 27 years in Leicester before being made a peer, is now 86 and reportedly suffering from dementia.

The peer has been investigated by police on child sex abuse allegations four times over the past 25 years, but has never been charged.

The CPS admitted it had made “mistakes” and there was enough evidence to charge the peer back in the early 1990s.

More than a dozen people came forward to claim Lord Janner abused them during the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, the CPS said.

He is alleged to have used his influence as an MP to prey on vulnerable young boys at local children’s homes.

Assistant Chief Constable Roger Bannister of Leicestershire Police, who has overseen the investigation, said he believed the decision was “the wrong one.

“There is credible evidence that this man carried out some of the most serious sexual crimes imaginable over three decades against children who were highly vulnerable and the majority of whom were in care,” he said.

He said the force was exploring the possibility of bringing legal action against the CPS in a bid to overturn the decision.

National Association for People Abused in Childhood chief executive Peter Saunders said the decision was “disastrously wrong” and will leave alleged victims feeling “betrayed.”

A Labour spokesman confirmed that the party had suspended Lord Janner in light of the allegations.