Sir Edward Heath was the leader of the UK Conservative party for 10 years between 1965 and 1975. Heath was Prime Minister of the UK from 1970 until 1974 and died in 2005. In a move that will further shake the UK political establishment, Heath has become the latest high profile political figure in the UK to become embroiled in a pedophile sex abuse scandal. Heath lived in the Wiltshire town of Salisbury, right next to Salisbury Cathedral and was a life-long bachelor. Whilst Heath was alive there were numerous whispers about his sexuality, but he never confirmed whether or not he was gay during his lifetime.
In recent years the UK has been rocked by repeated allegations of the sexual abuse of children by high profile political figures and entertainers such as Jimmy Savile . What has proven to be even more worrying to the political establishment are allegations that senior politicians, including prime minister Margaret Thatcher, took deliberate action to cover up child sexual abuse to avoid political embarrassment.
According to CNN the head of Britain’s security service in 1986 was investigating a senior political figure suspected of abusing small boys and advised the government that, “at the present stage… the risks of political embarrassment to the Government is rather greater than the security danger.”
Now the Guardian reports that Wiltshire police have made a public appeal for anyone who was abused by Sir Edward Heath to come forward. The appeal comes as the police watchdog begins an investigation into the force. It is alleged that officers in that force dropped a prosecution against a defendant who threatened to expose Heath as a child abuser.
According to the BBC the claims came to light after a senior Wiltshire officer, now retired, claimed a case was dropped when a person involved made the claims against Sir Edward Heath.
According to the Telegraph a man has claimed he was raped by Heath in a flat in London’s Mayfair when he was just a 12-year-old. Heath was a member of parliament at the time of the alleged assault, said to have taken place in 1961. According to Gulf News the allegations against Heath were made more than two years ago but were not made public at the time.
Labour MP Tom Watson claimed he passed allegations of two cases of child sexual abuse involving Edward Heath to the police in 2012.
”I passed them both to the police, who have confirmed to me that at least one of those allegations is being investigated and taken seriously.”
If the allegations against Sir Edward Heath are proven then Heath may well become known as Britain’s pedophile prime minister.
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