Fantasists and hoaxers behind the fake claims

THERAPIST TO VICTIMS OF SATANISTS

ONE of the fake accusers is a woman therapist who charged more than £200 a day to train counsellors to support victims of satanic abuse.

She has previously spoken about her ‘experience’ of satanic abuse at conferences, using the publicity to drum up funds for a charity she was involved in.

More than 25 years before Operation Conifer started, the therapist and several members of her family went to police claiming that their parents ran a satanic sex cult who killed as many as 16 children.

At the time, Sir Edward’s name was never mentioned and their claims were dismissed in 19 9.

The woman, who cannot be named, only mentioned Sir Edward after Wiltshire Police launched Operation Conifer in 2015.

She and other family members named the late Tory MP as being part of a paedophile ring run by their parents.

Their stories were recounted in gory detail as it was said the paedophile ring stabbed, raped, tortured and maimed youngsters in churches and burnt babies in satanic orgies before men, women and children gorged themselves on blood, animal and body parts.

Dr Richard Hoskins, working for the police, concluded that force had been fed ‘a catalogue of fabrication’.

‘NICK’ THE FANTASIST

A fantasist known as ‘Nick’ is facing possible prosecution after he falsely accused a string of VIPs, including Sir Edward, of being child rapists and murderers.

He claimed Sir Edward sexually assaulted him aboard his boat Morning Cloud, when it was moored off the south coast in the 1970s or 19 0s. Nick allegedly told police he recalled being taken to the south coast when he was a youngster and spirited aboard a sailing boat moored at a marina in Southampton.

He claimed he was then sexually assaulted by a man he later identified as Sir Edward.

But the allegation was discounted after police interviewed members of the former PM’s yacht crew.

His accusations were dismissed by the Metropolitan Police.

Dr Hoskins has linked Nick to the women who made satanic abuse claims. Nick’s father worked at the same place at the same time as the women’s father, which may account for their similar allegations.

THE HOAXERS

Other fantasists who came forward included a Twitter fantasist, a sex offender and a convicted hoaxer.

Michael Shrimpton, a suspended barrister who was jailed for 12 months in February 2015 for ‘communicating false information’ over a hoax claim that a nuclear device had been planted in London to detonate during the Olympic Games, claimed that Sir Edward killed boys on his yacht. Another prolific Twitter conspiracy theorist who claimed to have been interviewed for seven hours by Operation Conifer has made allegations against dozens of politicians, celebrities and public figures.

Wiltshire detectives also spoke to a convicted child sex abuser who said he was raped at the age of 12 by Sir Edward, who picked him up while he was hitchhiking in 1961. It also emerged that Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Mike Veale had been in personal email contact with another campaigner Robert Green who was jailed for harassing people he falsely accused of paedophilia.

One fantasist reported different abuse under three separate names which led to them being cautioned for wasting police time.

REJECTED CLAIMS

Police revealed that they would have been unable to pursue many of the allegations against the former PM because they did not stand up to scrutiny.

There were 19 cases where Sir Edward would not have been interviewed under caution because of the extent of undermining evidence, three cases of mistaken identity and three complaints made anonymously.

In ten cases the allegations were made to police by a third party rather than the alleged victim.