NOW HEATH ‘VICTIMS’ WANT PAYOUTS
Cash storm as police say ex-PM would have faced quiz on ‘abuse’
POLICE were last night accused of opening the ‘compensation floodgates’ to Sir Edward Heath’s accusers as it emerged that 26 abuse claims will be recorded as ‘crimes’ – despite there being no proof he was guilty.
Two compensation claims had been submitted to a government agency even before police concluded yesterday there is no irrefutable evidence to say the former prime minister was either guilty or innocent of child abuse.
As many as 26 allegations of sexual abuse and physical assault made against Sir Edward, who died in 2005 aged 89 – including the alleged rape of an 11-year-old boy – are set to be recorded by Wiltshire Police as ‘crimes’.
This is despite a £1.5million, two-year police probe finding only seven claims were credible enough even to warrant interviewing Sir Edward if he was alive today. Officers said that even in these cases there could be no inference of guilt.
Last night the embattled chief constable of Wiltshire Police, Mike Veale, was facing a growing backlash from friends, supporters and MPs, who said the reputation of the late Conservative leader had been tarnished by the ‘profoundly unsatisfactory’ inquiry. A 100-page summary report into the investigation, known as Operation Conifer, revealed 40 men and women accused Sir Edward of abuse spanning nearly four decades on children as young as ten between 1956 and 1992.
For 19 claims there was ‘undermining evidence’ diminishing the accuser’s credibility, with only seven deemed credible. Yet all 26 reports are to be recorded as crimes in official statistics, which supporters fear will pave the way for a Jimmy Savilestyle flood of claims to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and the MP’s estate, which is now a charitable trust.
James Gray, Tory MP for North Wiltshire, said: ‘There is not one shred of evidence of any kind whatsoever in the report. There are some pretty mad accusers out there and this will only incentivise people to make bogus claims.’
Criminologist Dr Richard Hoskins, who worked on the case, added: ‘ This report has opened the compensation floodgates on the basis of claims that are so flimsy it’s unbelievable.’
Sir Edward’s godson Lincoln Seligman called for a judicial inquiry to test police claims that the former prime minister would have been interviewed under caution over the abuse allegations. He was supported by Lord Macdonald QC, a former director of public prosecutions, who said it was ‘no surprise at all’ that Wiltshire Police said they would have interviewed Sir Edward had he been alive.
Lord Macdonald said: ‘This gives entirely bogus credibility to their investigation without meaning anything in forensic terms.
‘The bar for interview is low, and in the case of a dead man, virtually non- existent. They are covering their backs at the expense of a dead man. Shame on them.’
Chief Constable Veale launched the report with a staunch 39minute defence of his own actions, reviving the notion of a Westminster child abuse cover-up.
The most serious allegation levelled was that Sir Edward raped and indecently assaulted an 11year-old boy after paying for sex at a private address in London in 1961, when he was Lord Privy Seal.
It was claimed a year later he assaulted a ten-year-old boy during a chance meeting in a public place in Kent. The most recent alleged offence is said to have taken place around 1990 and 1992.
None of the seven claims relate to when he was prime minister. All but one of them were made after police made an extraordinary appeal for ‘victims’ outside Sir Edward’s former Salisbury home, Arundells, in August 2015, which led to 118 people coming forward.
Among 42 claims detailed in the report were a number of malicious ones. One man used three different names to make allegations, which led to a caution for wasting police time. A fantasist known as ‘Nick’ said he was abused on Sir Edward’s yacht Morning Cloud. He faces possible prosecution for falsely accusing politicians and VIP figures of child rape and murder leading to Scotland Yard’s separate botched inquiry, Operation Midland.
Former Cabinet Secretary Lord Armstrong of Ilminster and Lord Hunt of Wirral called for a judgeled inquiry into Operation Conifer.
But Mr Veale said: ‘It would be an indefensible dereliction of my public duty not to have investigated such serious allegations against a former prime minister, even though he is deceased.’
‘Diminishing credibility’