Thames Valley Police investigating information in light of inquiry into former

Gloucestershire and Thames Valley forces are the latest to say they have received information about Sir Edward.

Police forces in Kent, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Jersey, an island in the English Channel, have now confirmed they are looking into claims involving the former Prime Minister.

Wiltshire Police announced on Monday it was opening a second investigation into whether there had been a cover-up of child sex abuse claims in the 1990s and urged any further victims to come forward.

She said: “As chair of the Inquiry, Lowell Goddard has earlier made clear, she is leading the strand of the Inquiry that looks at all allegations relating to Westminster and will determine their relevance to the Inquiry”.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said a lead police force will be appointed to oversee police investigations involving the late prime minister, who died at home in Salisbury in 2005.

Forde’s ex-lawyer, Richard Griffiths, said on Wednesday that she did not state that Sir Edward was a client, nor did she threaten to expose him if the prosecution against her was continued. The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched its own inquiry into an alleged cover-up.

The first allegations emerged when it was claimed Wiltshire Police dropped a prosecution into a brothel in the Nineties after the madam said she would name Sir Edward in any trial.

A spokesman said: “The victim has named Sir Edward Heath in connection with the allegation”.

It did not proceed because of a lack of evidence, Judge Nigel Seed QC, the prosecuting counsel at the time, said.

Jersey police have also confirmed that the former Premier’s name has been linked to its investigation into abuse at the Haut de la Garenne.

The Guardian understands that the information handed to the Wiltshire police force centres on the allegedly corrupt persuasion of prosecution witnesses in a case against former brothel keeper Myra Forde.

Scotland Yard said it had been approached in April with an allegation of abuse against Heath but there was not enough evidence for the force to pursue the claim.

One alleged victim claimed on Tuesday he was raped in 1961, aged 12, when he was picked up by his attacker and driven to an apartment on London’s Park Lane.

However, the IPCC told the Daily Echo online it was not now looking into Hampshire police.

In a letter to The Times, Mr Seed said: “On the day of her trial, there was a large number of reporters at the court”.

Forde, a Filipino, was later convicted on two separate occasions of offences related to running a brothel from a residential property in Salisbury.

“Myra Forde wishes me to make it clear that she had no involvement with Ted Heath of any kind and has no knowledge of any misconduct on his part”.

The decision by a senior minister to speak out is unusual as the Government rarely criticises the police on operational matters.