Lord Janner child sex claims: Top Holocaust charity 'under pressure' to drop co-chair from board

Britain's leading Holocaust memorial and educational organisation is under mounting pressure over child sex allegations against Lord Janner.

The Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) was under the spotlight in the wake of the shocking claims against Janner, who co-founded the charity in 1976 and remains co-chairman.

It has grown to be one of Britain's leading Holocaust organisations, doing important work in keeping alive the memory of genocide and educating generations of youngsters. The 86-year-old garnered international plaudits for his activism.

But there was outcry after it was ruled that Janner, a former Labour MP in Leicester, will not face charges over a string of serious claims that he sexually abused children while holding public office. Janner was deemed unfit to stand trial as he suffers from Alzheimer's, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

A source inside HET said the charity had been rocked by the allegations, which senior members had yet to come to terms with.

"This has a shock to the system to everyone here," the source said - referring to allegations that Janner abused youngsters in the care system. "People have been talking about nothing else."

No comment has yet been made on the record by HET about Lord Janner's position in light of the claims against him.

Lord Mendelsohn, a trustee and director of the Holocaust Educational Trust, who worked closely with Lord Janner on several high-profile Jewish campaigns in the 1990s, before going on to become a leading fundraiser for the Labour Party, was also unavailable for comment when contacted by IBTimes UK.

Indeed, none of the non-profit organisations connected to Janner have yet decided whether to cut ties with him or not. IBTimes UK contacted a host of groups - including some committed to child welfare - but all declined to comment.

Lord Janner of Braunstone co-founded the Holocaust Education Trust in 1987 and it remains one of several public positions retained by him.

Janner has a long record of public service and charity work, much of it focused upon the Jewish community and the memory of the Holocaust committed by the Nazi regime.

Allegations that he abused his position of influence while a Labour MP and later as a Lord were at the centre of a storm of publicity following the CPS decision not to launch a case.