The government is facing demands from senior Lords to launch an independent inquiry into “patent rubbish” claims that a former Tory Prime Minister was part of VIP paedophile ring.
Sir Edward Heath, who died in 2005, had been accused of abusing a number of children before, during and after his time in Downing Street in the 1970s.
Operation Conifer—an investigation launched into the allegations in 2015—was not able to conclusively resolve the serious claims.
Its closing statement said that Sir Edward would have been interviewed under caution had he been alive, but that guilt should not be inferred from this.
The probe was headed up by former Wiltshire Police chief Mike Veale, who in July was indefinitely barred from serving after a disciplinary panel found he made unwanted sexual remarks to a colleague a year after the report was published.
The government has rejected calls to establish an independent inquiry, arguing that it is for the local police and crime commissioner to decide whether one should be set up.
However, peers said on Tuesday that an inquiry was “imperative” into the allegations and subsequent investigation due to Mr. Veale’s gross misconduct finding.
Grave Matter
Lord Lexden, the official historian of the Conservative Party, argued that Mr. Veale’s investigation “failed to clear up, after a long investigation, in which one of his officers contemptuously publicised on television in front of Ted Heath’s house in Salisbury.”He added: “Must there not be a strong suspicion that Veale left these allegations, neither proved nor disproved, to save face after failing to find a single shred of evidence to support any of these accusations, despite getting his officers to rifle through all Heath’s private papers, box after box in the Bodleian Library, during an operation that cost over a million pounds paid for by the Home Office?
“Do we not owe it to the memory of a dead statesman, the only first minister of the Crown ever to be suspected of such serious crimes, to get at the truth of this grave matter and settle the doubts created by the disgraced Veale?”
Former Labour justice minister Lord Bach said that peers on all sides of the House believe it is “vital” to have a review of the “shockingly unresolved allegations against Sir Edward Heath.”
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Randerson added that the issue “needs to bring closure to both the alleged victims and to the family of Sir Edward Heath,” calling it a “damaging situation.”
Former Tory cabinet minister Lord Howell of Guildford branded the outstanding allegations a “stain on British justice,” accusing the government of allowing “foul-mouthed accusations from a totally unreliable source” to “drift in the wind with no attempt to tidy it up and bring closure.”
Former Tory minister Viscount Hailsham said, “Many of us simply don’t comprehend how a relatively senior police officer could have given credence to allegations with such patent rubbish.”
Pre-Charge Anonymity
Lord Campbell-Savours of Labour suggested that Parliament should reopen a debate into pre-charge anonymity in the UK.He said: “My Lords, is not the news that the Northern Ireland Assembly is amending the law on anonymity in rape cases to be greatly welcomed?
“If the law in England had been similarly amended, it is highly unlikely that the injustices in the cases of Sir Edward Heath, Lord Leon Brittan, Sir Cliff Richard, Mr. Harvey Proctor and Mr. Paul Gambaccini, and in the Janner case, would ever have arisen.”
Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom told peers he agreed that the allegations were “patent rubbish.”
“With hindsight, of course we can call them patent rubbish, but at the time I think all of these allegations had to be investigated, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that Operation Conifer was not able to resolve conclusively the position in respect to all the allegations against Sir Edward.
“I obviously recognised the desire of the House to find a solution, but the investigation has already been subject to considerable external scrutiny and the Government does not see the grounds for intervention from Government; and the fact that it involves a former prime minister does not of itself warrant Government intervention.”
The minister said that “we all regret” that the situation arose in the first place, but that the investigation has been scrutinised by an independent review, which found it to be “reasonable and proportionate.”
He concluded, “The government is of the opinion that the original investigation has been scrutinised to a very high degree and that no further Government action is therefore necessary.”
Regarding the inquiry into Mr. Veale’s conduct, he said: “It perhaps took too long, but it was appropriately investigated along the way,” adding that the public “should have faith” in the system, given that he has now been held to account.
Detectives working on Operation Conifer spent around two years and more than £1.2 million investigating allegations that the former Tory prime minister abused children as part of a VIP paedophile ring.
Carl Beech, who was one of those who made false allegations against Sir Edward, was later jailed for 18 years for perverting the course of justice.
