Cop probe: Ex-PM Heath preyed on boys aged 11
Investigation will claim there are 42 victims as friends of former leader blast ‘witch-hunt’
A CONTROVERSIAL report into paedophile allegations against Sir Edward Heath is expected to reveal 42 claims of child sex abuse.
The most serious accusations against the former Tory prime minister are said to include at least one rape and attacks on boys aged 11 to 15.
Sir Edward, who died in 2005, was a keen yachtsman and some allegations are linked to the sailing world.
The report will say that even one of the allegations would justify questioning the Conservative MP under caution were he alive today.
But yesterday, his godson Lincoln Seligman criticised the £1.5million Operation Conifer and called for an official inquiry.
He also criticised Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Mike Veale, who led the investigation, saying he was “acting as judge and jury and has already convicted the man”.
Lincoln added: “We want a judge who will be independent and impartial and to me that is the opposite of cover-up, because we want the truth and we believe the truth will exonerate him.”
Sir Edward, who led the Tory government from 1970 to 1974, stepped down as an MP in 2001 and died at home in Salisbury in July 2005, aged 89.
Operation Conifer was launched in 2015 after he was named as a suspect in an investigation into historical child sex abuse.
On Thursday, Wiltshire Police will make public their “summary closure report” of the inquiry into Sir Edward.
Two of the seven most serious allegations reportedly occurred in Guernsey and Jersey.
A further two are connected to Wiltshire, where Sir Edward lived in a mansion near Salisbury.
Heath’s friends have accused police of a witch-hunt, saying he would not have had the opportunity to commit such crimes.
Three of the main arguments to support this are that he couldn’t drive and never had a car, had round-the-clock police protection and he was asexual.
But the report is expected to reveal he could drive and owned a Rover 2000 and Vauxhall Viva despite there being no record of him having a driving licence.
The findings of the 100 page report will be passed to the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse.