Heath accuser is paedophile and ‘liar’ whose claim Met had rejected

THE Wiltshire Police inquiry into Sir Edward Heath has been plunged into disarray after it emerged the most serious allegation was brought by a jailed paedophile and dropped by Scotland Yard two years ago.

The £1.5million inquiry concluded Heath – had he been alive – would have been interviewed over an allegation that he raped an 11-year-old boy more than 55 years ago. The allegation was the most serious uncovered by the force in its two-year investigation.

But The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the rape claim was investigated by the Metropolitan Police as long ago as April 2015 and dropped.

The allegation was made by a serial child sex abuser while he languished in prison on remand. Wiltshire Police described the man, who has convictions for child sex abuse dating back more than 40 years, as a “victim” in its controversial report. His identity cannot be made public due to laws protecting anybody who complains to police of being a victim of a sex offence.

The paedophile, now aged 68, complained to The Met’s specialist child sex abuse team in April 2015 that Heath raped him when he was aged 11 in 1961. The man claimed Heath raped him at his Mayfair flat after picking him up as he walked along the A2 in Kent. The claim was made public in a tabloid newspaper in August 2015, a day after Wiltshire Police launched its inquiry.

The Met then issued a statement explaining the rape claim had already been investigated by Operation Fairbank, which was looking at allegations of VIP sex abuse. In a statement issued on Aug 4 2015, it said: “After a full assessment of the allegation there were no lines of enquiry that could proportionately be pursued by [The Met].”

Critics of the Wiltshire Police inquiry said it was astonishing that the most serious allegation against Heath had been dropped two years earlier – and that Wiltshire had failed to disclose this in its summary report.

Lincoln Seligman, Heath’s godson, said: “This is a serious act of omission.” He said that Chief Constable Mike Veale should now consider quitting.

The alleged victim was interviewed by Wiltshire Police while he was in jail for child sex abuse. He is currently serving a lengthy sentence and has previously blamed his offending on witnessing people being killed in conflict zones. He made no mention of being a victim of Heath. He has also been described as an “habitual liar”.

Wiltshire Police declined to respond to questions posed by The Telegraph. A force spokesman said: “It is ... not the intention to be drawn on any further operational detail, as to do would potentially place victim anonymity at risk, a matter that Wiltshire Police take very seriously and which has been central to this investigation throughout.”