Ted Heath ‘would have been quizzed over allegation he raped boy aged 11’
interviewed Sir Edward about child sexual abuse. The report says that none of the seven alleged offences occurred while Sir Edward was prime minister from 1970 to 1974, but three were while he was a minister from 1961 to 1964.
Police found that there was “undermining” evidence in the case of allegations by 19 individuals, while three people who made claims later admitted they had been mistaken in identifying Sir Edward.
Ten allegations were made by a third party, including two claims involving alleged victims who were dead.
The findings of the two-year investigation are expected to be condemned by friends and relatives of the former prime minister who have been highly critical of the way the inquiry has been run.
Today, ahead of the report’s publication, former colleagues of Sir Edward, who died in 2005 aged 8 9, branded the investigation “a wild goose chase” and said Wiltshire chief constable Mike Veale had been conducting a “fishing expedition”.
Former aide Robert Vaudry accused the force of leaking details of the report in advance to “spin” the allegations, and called for a police inquiry into the investigation, Operation Conifer.
Mr Vaudry, who was Sir Edward’s private secretary from 1988 to 1992, said of Mr Veale: “My children, when they look up Ted Heath, the first stories are about whether he is a paedophile. That’s always going to be the case.”
The inquiry followed the discredited Met Operation Midland investigation into claims by a witness known as Nick about a Westminster paedophile ring.
Sir Edward’s godson Lincoln Seligman, 67, said: “I know there are genuine victims of child abuse out there, but not by Edward Heath.”