Police boss who STILL defends f lawed inquiry
GIVEN his prominence as a leading public figure in Britain, no-one would have been subject to greater scrutiny in terms of their private conduct than Edward Heath.
Yet, despite his death in 2005, two years have been spent investigating the idea that the former Prime Minister was a predatory paedophile – a rapist of children – who evaded suspicion for decades.
This fantastical hypothesis is the basis of Operation Conifer, an investigation by Wiltshire Police into allegations of historical abuse by the late leader of the Conservative Party. Leading the charge was Chief Constable Mike Veale, who insists it would have been a ‘dereliction of duty’ not to have investigated the case. Yet with Heath unable to give evidence, there was never any prospect of a definitive outcome to the inquiry.
The reason for pushing ahead lies in 2014 guidelines in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal that effectively created an open season on VIPs. Mr Veale was reported in February as believing that paedophile allegations against the former PM were ‘120 per cent’ genuine.
But after admitting yesterday that there was no evidence of the former peer’s guilt that would stand up in court, he was left desperately trying to defend the probe.
Mr Veale, who began his career as a police cadet aged 16 before joining Avon and Somerset Police as a constable in 1984, said: ‘I believe this was the right moral, ethical and professional thing to do. The allegations ... were of the utmost seriousness and from a significant number of people.
‘I hope people will understand that, given these circumstances, it would be an indefensible dereliction of my public duty as a chief constable not to have investigated such serious allegations against a former prime minister, even though he is deceased.’
Wiltshire Police had already been under fire in 2015 after a bizarre televised appeal for victims to come forward held outside Sir Edward’s old house in Salisbury.
Superintendent Sean Memory urged potential victims not ‘to suffer in silence’. Mr Veale, appointed Chief Constable in June 2015, may have been anxious not to repeat an IPCC investigation into the force, which followed an allegation that it had failed to handle properly a complaint of abuse.
A year later Mr Veale said his operation would continue despite the Metropolitan Police’s decision to close down its VIP sex abuse inquiry, in which Sir Edward was named as a suspect by a discredited witness known as ‘Nick’.
The result of his dogged determination to see the inquiry to its end is a ‘summary report’ that contains no smoking-gun evidence, but casts a lasting shadow over the reputation of a distinguished public figure. Up to 36 alleged disclosures were discounted by Wiltshire detectives for various reasons, including mistaken identity. One ‘victim’ even pretended to be three separate complainants.
Against this must be placed the evidence of numerous civil servants, bodyguards, drivers and nurses who attended Sir Edward from 1968 until his death.
Not one of the 104 close-protection officers disclosed any evidence suggesting he was involved in abuse. Most importantly, there was no evidence from MI5.
Lurid claims of Satanic abuse are among the nuttier allegations addressed by the Conifer team.
Mr Veale must have been dreading opening his inbox in recent weeks, having been subjected to an extraordinary lobbying campaign by internet conspiracists.
Supporters were urged to bombard the Chief Constable with emails begging him to include in his report the allegation that Heath was a Satanist.
On a Facebook page last month, campaigner William Wong pleaded to his followers to email Mr Veale ‘as a matter of urgency’.
James Gray, Tory MP for North Wiltshire, describes Conifer as a waste of money. ‘They’ll be looking into Jack the Ripper or Henry VIII next,’ he said. Former Cabinet Secretary Lord Armstrong expects Mr Veale to come under pressure to resign. That will not rescue the reputation of Sir Edward.
But in the age of the internet mob, it seems that one is guilty until proven innocent.