Heath sex abuse probe has already cost £1.5m
... including £14,000 on PR for embattled police force
‘A carefully crafted witch hunt’
POLICE have spent £1.5million probing sexual abuse allegations against Sir Edward Heath, including £14,000 on spin to defend the probe.
Ahead of the publication today of a report on the findings of the inquiry into claims against the former prime minister, Wiltshire Police were accused of a ‘colossal waste of money’.
The two-year investigation has ended with no one facing charges and seemingly no concrete proof of any assaults.
The force has lavished £1,542,841 on the beleaguered investigation, according to the latest available figures, released after a freedom of information request.
This includes more than £14,291 on public relations to defend the reputation of Chief Constable Mike Veale and his team, who have faced sustained criticism for their handling of the investigation.
Over the past two years, detectives spent more than £34,542 on flights, car hire and public transport around Britain and the Channel Islands to investigate the child abuse claims, many of which have been found to be fantasy.
The force had to pay £1,029 for repairs after crashing a car they spent more than £22,000 renting during Operation Conifer.
The 24- strong team racked up hotel bills totalling £32,757, plus £5,841 for meals and refreshments.
A further £556 was spent on books about the former Conservative MP, although officers failed to interview many of those who worked with Sir Edward and knew him best.
More than £914,000 went on salaries for retired detectives and staff working on the investigation, recruited after the force paid £4,819 for advertising.
The final bill for the inquiry is likely to be even higher but the costs were still being counted last night before the publication of a summary of the findings today.
The report is expected to reveal that detectives examined claims of 42 assaults on youngsters aged 11 to 15 by the late MP between the 1950s and 1990s. Nine of the 42 allegations made against Sir Edward, who died aged 89 in 2005, had been on police files for years but were dismissed at the time.
It is anticipated the report will say seven of the claims are sufficiently credible to justify police questioning Sir Edward under caution were he alive today.
But his godson Lincoln Seligman, 67, believes the report will contain nothing but ‘innuendo’ that will forever tarnish his godfather’s legacy.
Wiltshire Police plans to release a 100-page summary of the investigation’s work, as well as its final costs. The full 350-page document will be passed to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has agreed to provide £1.1million in funding after a plea for financial support from Mr Veale to cover the costs of the inquiry.
Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor – who was himself hounded over false child abuse allegations by a fantasist known as ‘Nick’, who also made claims against Sir Edward – said: ‘I find it astonishing that this amount of money was spent on PR to protect the reputation of Mike Veale.’
Describing the probe as ‘a carefully crafted witch hunt’, he added: ‘Operation Conifer could not and has not proved anything.’
Dr Richard Hoskins, a criminologist called in by Wiltshire Police to review part of the inquiry, condemned the force’s spending, saying he was convinced there was not a shred of credible evidence against the late former Tory leader.
He said: ‘ These items of expenditure show a total disregard for ordinary Britons who have paid their hard- earned taxes for this police gravy train.
‘It was obvious to anyone with half a brain that most of the socalled evidence didn’t stack up.’