Ex-PM Ted Heath accused of raping 12 year old boy

Former Tory Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath has been accused of rape by an alleged victim, who was 12 years old at the time of the claimed assault. A police inquiry was opened on Monday urging others to come forward.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) launched an inquiry into the alleged cover-up of a criminal investigation after a suspect threatened to expose Heath as a child abuser.

Heath served as a Conservative PM from 1970 to 1974. He died in 2005 at the age of 89. He is the most high profile figure to be accused of historic child sex abuse to date.

The victim, who says he was 12 when the former PM raped him, said he had been abused throughout his childhood by his father and other pedophile connections, including Heath.

He alleges that he was picked up on the A2 road in Kent and taken back to an apartment on Park Lane in London where Heath raped him, the Daily Mirror reported.

His attacker remained unknown to him in until 1965, the man claims, when he saw a photo of Heath standing next to Margaret Thatcher.

In statements to his legal team reported in the Mirror, the man said: “I learned that he was MP for Bexley. This answered a lot of questions as to why no-one believed me about the London saga. I got called a liar and a fantasist.”

The allegations against Heath emerged after a retired Wiltshire police officer, who reached a senior rank in the force, revealed that a case involving a brothel owner had been dropped when she said she would expose Heath.

A colleague of the whistleblower, another retired officer, said he was sure the allegations would prove to be true. 

He told the Daily Mail: “I have no doubt that the allegation that a prosecution was stopped in suspicious circumstances, because of a potential link to Sir Edward, is true.”

The Metropolitan Police did not comment on the claims brought forward by the alleged victim.

Wiltshire Police have also launched their own inquiry into the claims, and have urged any potential victims to come forward.

Superintendent Sean Memory of Wiltshire Police said: “The allegation is that a trial was due to take place in the 1990s and information was received in that trial that Sir Ted Heath was involved in the abuse of children and the allegation is from the result of that information that the trial never took place.

“A retired senior police officer [came] forward towards the end of 2014 indicating that they were aware of this information.

“This is an appeal for victims in particular. If you have been the victim of any crime from Sir Ted Heath or any historical sexual offence, or you are a witness or you have any information about this, then please come forward.”

The police added that Heath lived “in Salisbury for many years” and was a prominent figure in the community.

According to the BBC, the Metropolitan Police have been investigating allegations against Heath for a number of months as part of a wider investiagtion into historical sex abuse.