Bombshell email: Nick Clegg was told about Lib Dem sex scandal four years ago Former party chief Chris Rennard is accused of groping female activists Deputy Prime Minister has always denied knowing about the allegations He claimed to have only found out hours before they were broadcast But messages sent on Facebook suggest Nick Clegg has known for years By Glen Owen Nick Clegg knew more than four years ago that a top Liberal Democrat official had been accused of molesting women, a bombshell email claims. The Deputy Prime Minister has always denied knowing about the allegations - that former party chief Chris Rennard had groped a string of female activists - until hours before they were broadcast by Channel 4 on Thursday evening. But this appears to be contradicted by the details of an exchange on Facebook, sent via the social networking site's private messaging service, written in January 2009 by one of the women who came forward to Channel 4. It includes the line: "I just don't know how Nick can know and not do anything...:- (makes me very sad." He DID know: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg denied knowing about allegations that Lord Chris Rennard, pictured right, groped a series of women until hours before they were broadcast on Channel 4 'Unaware': Nick Clegg pictured with Jo Swinson who allegedly told a party official that 'Nick... is pretty sure that none of the girls will talk' Last night, as the scandal threatened to engulf the party, a spokesman for the Lib Dem leader said Mr Clegg "had no idea" why the woman had included the reference and insisted that he had not been previously aware of the allegations made in the programme. Amid mounting claims of a "cover up," the Mail on Sunday can also reveal: Two prominent female Lib Dem MPs have privately complained that they were inappropriately touched by Lord Rennard; Lib Dem Women's Minister Jo Swinson allegedly told a party official that "Nick... is pretty sure that none of the girls will talk"; Mr Clegg's political adviser told one alleged victim: "Do you mind if I speak to Nick about that?" Rumours about Lord Rennard, who masterminded a string of by-election victories for the party over two decades until he stepped down as chief executive for "health and family reasons" in 2009, have circulated within the party and the media for several years. He has said that he is "deeply shocked by and strongly disputes the allegations" made against him. Until now, his alleged victims have refused to go on the record. That changed when three women agreed to speak to Channel 4 News for a programme broadcast on Thursday. Accused: Lord Rennard denies claims that he groped a series of women Alison Smith, a former party activist who lectures in politics at Oxford University, told how she and a fellow female Lib Dem member were invited back to the peer's London house after having dinner with him six years ago. "He plonked himself between us and started moving his hands down our backs and places where they had absolutely no business being," she said. Another alleged victim, Bridget Harris, a former special adviser to Mr Clegg, said Lord Rennard started touching her legs and knees at a conference in Swansea in 2003. "It made me feel embarrassed, and upset and disappointed," she said. A third woman, who did not wish to be named, told how he had "shoved his hand down the back of my dress" when she was a 21-year-old candidate posing for a photo with him. "I felt really humiliated and very undermined and very shameful," she added. The women claim they encountered a "Kafkaesque" nightmare when they reported the incidents to senior party figures, including Ms Swinson and Paul Burstow, then the party's chief whip. Ms Swinson agreed to investigate, reporting to Alison Suttie, who was Mr Clegg's deputy chief of staff and "gatekeeper." Ms Swinson uncovered a "serious pattern or behaviour" but told Ms Smith that it could not be taken forward because the women were not prepared to make a formal complaint. Mr Clegg has stuck to the line his office gave after the story first broke on Thursday, when a spokesman said: "The first he knew of the allegations was after the Party was contacted by Channel 4." However, the Mail on Sunday has seen an exchange between the unnamed woman in the Channel 4 investigation and a friend which appears to cast this version of events into doubt. The woman, whose identity we know but are protecting, is asked by the friend - who at the time was well connected at Lib Dem HQ - whether the "human octopus has struck again." She responds that she suspects that "he is bricking it so much he has stopped... EVERYONE watches him now. The pair then discuss how Ms Swinson had called her and asked her for a statement setting out her accusations, with the friend saying: "If no one complains nothing happens." Alleged victims: Former special adviser Bridget Harris, pictured left, and former Lib Dem activist Alison Smith, pictured right, both accused Lord Rennard of groping them The woman replies: "I know, it's so awful... just s*** ... I just don't know how Nick can know and not do anything..:- (makes me very sad. The friend then expresses some sympathy with Mr Clegg, who at the time had been leader for just over a year, saying: "Well... unless women come forward and go through the formal process, rather than a bit of a chat with Jo, there isn't much Nick can do." Last night, the woman did not respond to requests for comment on the content of her messages. Separately, a former female party official, who worked in a senior position at Lib Dem HQ at the time Ms Swinson investigated the claims, has given the Mail on Sunday a detailed account of conversations held at the time, which also appear to contradict Mr Clegg's version. The official made a contemporaneous note of an exchange she had with Ms Swinson at the Lib Dem Conference on Tuesday September 30, 2008, in which the official was asked whether she had ever been a "victim" of Lord Rennard - or had details of women who had been. The BBC knew about the sex scandal surrounding Lord Rennard more than three months ago - but decided against running a news item on it. The Corporation has admitted that its political team began looking at allegations in November that he had groped activists but has so far not broadcast the item. Its failure to act on the tip-off meant Channel 4 News, which is produced by its arch rival ITN, was able to reveal details of the scandal last Thursday. Its decision not to run with the story will inevitably lead to comparisons with Newsnight's now infamous decision not to broadcast its exposé into Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse. In November, the broadcaster was still reeling from the fallout from Newsnight's decision to broadcast allegations of sexual abuse by an unidentified peer. Lord McAlpine was wrongly identified as the peer at the centre of the untrue allegations and the BBC was forced to pay damages. It is possible that the controversy from that incident caused it to be a little more risk-averse than it might have been. A BBC spokeswoman last night insisted the Corporation had pursued the story from the beginning and was continuing to pursue it. She said: "To suggest we did not pursue this story is untrue. We began investigating allegations but we are unable to persuade the women to speak on camera. We needed to get first-hand testimony on camera. We have continued to try to secure interviews, making it clear that we are ready to record an interview when they were ready to talk. The official said she had not been a victim, but could supply details of several colleagues who had made complaints, including two MPs. She said Ms Swinson confirmed that the two were on a "list" - but that "only one of them had complained." The official also said that she told Ms Swinson that journalists were investigating the stories, and that she should realise they saw it "not as a story about Rennard but about Nick and what he knew." She claims Ms Swinson told her: "Yes, Nick is aware of that but we are pretty sure that none of the girls will talk." The official made a further claim to the Mail on Sunday that during Ms Swinson's investigation, Matthew Hanney, Mr Clegg's political adviser, had approached one of the victims and said: "Do you mind if I speak to Nick about it?" Last night, a spokesman for Mr Clegg said: "Nick Clegg was not aware of the allegations raised in the Channel 4 report. However, in view of these allegations and the concerns raised about how such issues have been handled, Nick Clegg asked Party President Tim Farron to establish an immediate review into all our procedures for dealing with these issues, including a thorough examination of how allegations made in the past have been handled. This review group had its first meeting on Thursday. One of the serious concerns expressed by those who appeared in the Channel 4 programme last week was that the party did not handle these issues properly at the time. We are therefore determined to ensure that all these issues are now looked into through a proper and thorough process. This is the purpose of the review panel which has been established and the separate investigation under our disciplinary procedures. Ms Swinson said: "My focus throughout has been to protect the women who confided in me and, our shared objective, to prevent other women experiencing this kind of behaviour. All the time I was careful to respect their wish for privacy and, for that matter, their right not to be harassed by the press. I took action and ensured that others took action. I told the women who had confided in me what I had done to try to put a stop to any inappropriate behaviour, and encouraged them to let me know if they became aware of any further incidents. I welcome the review into how the party responded to this situation so that lessons can be learned. It is important a proper process is followed and I look forward to the opportunity to contribute. However, she failed to address directly the claims made by the former party official. The two MPs identified as complainants declined to comment. Senior party members - including Nick Clegg - need to be honest what they knew and when they knew it I worked at Liberal Democrat headquarters when Chris Rennard was at the height of his powers. Although the party seemed to be miles away from government, his brilliant campaigning skills enabled him to mastermind a growth in Liberal parliamentary numbers to a level unseen since the days of Lloyd George. In the seats targeted so effectively by the party, the joke went that Lib Dem candidates fell into two categories - those that listened to Rennard and those that lost. The man wasn't deified exactly, but he was admired, respected and feared to a quite astonishing degree. Although I didn't hear of anything untoward about his behaviour while I was working for the party, it wasn't long after my departure in the spring of 2007 that I started to become privy to stories of his alleged misconduct. I found them hard to credit initially - they didn't chime with my experience of a man I liked and admired. But after a while, I'd heard the same stories from so many sources I had to question whether this amounted to more than the usual tittle-tattle gossip of Westminster. Clearly, some very senior politicians in the party had a much better, clearer idea of the allegations than I did. Jo Swinson MP, a rising star of the Lib Dems and a declared champion of women's rights, and the party's chief whip, Paul Burstow MP, had been directly approached with the details of serious allegations about Rennard's conduct. The complainants did not want their concerns to become public, they wished to prevent extreme embarrassment to the party and feared for their own reputations and future career prospects. Exactly what Swinson and Burstow did with this information remains unclear and urgently needs to be discovered - along with a swift, honest and unambiguous clarification about which other senior party figures knew what, when they knew it, and how they acted on it - including Nick Clegg. Rising star': Jo Swinson, pictured with Nick Clegg, was approached about the allegations against Lord Rennard So widely discussed were these rumours in Lib Dem circles, albeit in hushed tones, it seems impossible that Clegg's office was not aware of them. Can we credit that none of his staff saw fit to inform the leader himself? If he didn't know, why not? If he did, what did he do? On the face of it, a large number of senior Lib Dems knew of the accusations and took remarkably little action. In May 2009, just weeks before the crucial European elections, Rennard suddenly resigned as the party's chief executive, citing ill health. He had recently attracted the attention of the national press relating to his expenses claims as a member of the House of Lords, although he was ultimately cleared of any breach of the rules. Extraordinarily, I was told that Burstow contacted some of the women complainants to tell them Rennard was to depart - the implication presumably being that any concerns they had could be laid to rest. Lord Rennard managed to boost Liberal parliamentary members with his campaigning skills However, as Rennard's health apparently recovered, he became more involved in the party again - acting as a key aide in the prime ministerial TV debates, for example. This appears to be more than Alison Smith, Bridget Harris and others were willing to tolerate. The BBC was, I am told, approached with their story last autumn, but in the midst of the Savile fallout and the horrifically inaccurate allegations against Lord McAlpine, the Beeb contrived to botch it. Cathy Newman of Channel 4 made no such mistake. Amazingly, the women now found themselves in the position of wishing to tell their story to a national TV station rather than placing any trust in the Lib Dems" internal party structures. This is a devastating indictment of those structures which are supposed to ensure the good governance of the party but have so disastrously failed. Any political party faced with a scandal of this sort would be rocked to the core. But for the Lib Dems, the damage is acute. The party has prided itself on banging the drum for a plethora of measures to promote women's rights and protect women from "exploitation." Lib Dem posturing about the need for greater gender balance in public life and the party's eagerness to pronounce to others how they treat female workers are preposterous in light of the failure of the party to get its own house in order. Party president Tim Farron, who has been charged with establishing an inquiry into what went wrong, faces a colossal task. He would be well advised to abandon it before he begins. He should accept that an internal investigation cannot be relied upon to get to the root causes of problems on this scale and appoint a panel of external experts to conduct the investigation instead. That might be an uncomfortable, even bloody, affair - but could end up being cathartic for the Lib Dems. Until it is complete, we are surely entitled to expect a period of silence from the Liberal Democrats on "women's issues."