Former PM Ted Heath Accused Of Raping Boy, 12

The former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath has been accused of raping a 12-year-old boy in a Mayfair flat in 1961.

A man has claimed he was sexually attacked by the politician in 1961 - as police urged other potential victims to come forward.

The alleged victim, now aged in his 60s, claims he was branded "a liar and a fantasist" when he initially reported the alleged assault in the 1960s.

The Daily Mirror has reported that the man said Sir Edward picked him up along the A2 road in north Kent as he hitched a lift.

He claimed to have gone back to an apartment in Park Lane, London, where he was raped, the newspaper reported.

It was not until 1965 that he realised who his alleged abuser was, recognising him from a picture in a newspaper, standing beside Margaret Thatcher.

"I learned that he was MP for Bexley," he said in statements to his legal team reported in the newspaper.

"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 Metropolitan Police declined to comment on the claims although is likely to investigate offences allegedly carried out in the capital.

Sir Edward, who was PM for four years in the 1970s, is the highest-profile figure to be named in historical abuse allegations against prominent figures.

The allegation comes after the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it was looking into whether Wiltshire Police followed up claims against Sir Edward, made in the 1990s.

Wiltshire Police have appealed for potential victims of Sir Edward, who lived in Salisbury for many years, 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.

It said: "We would like to hear from anyone who has any relevant information that may assist us in our inquiries or anyone who believes they may have been a victim."

On Monday night US Newsweek reporter Leah McGrath Goodman claimed she was removed from the UK for investigating child sex abuse claims against Sir Edward on Jersey in 2011.

She told LBC Radio: "Ted Heath was one of the more prominent allegations. He enjoyed using his yacht, and would come to the island frequently.

"He would take children from care homes for a ride on the yacht and it was reported that some never came back."

She claimed he had been to a home "frequented" by Jimmy Savile. The late TV presenter has been accusing children at the Haut de la Garenne children's home, which was the centre of the biggest investigation into historic child sex abuse on the island.

Ms Goodman said: "I know the police received reports. I have looked into the records from the home. The children were loaned out. Sometimes they would come back – sometimes they would not."

Leading campaigner on historic child abuse, Labour MP Simon Danczuk, told Sky News he had spoken to a former Met Police detective who said he had seen Sir Edward going into a north London property where boys were being procured.

Labour MP Tom Watson said he received information relating to allegations of child abuse involving Sir Edward in 2012.

He said: "A separate claim concerning Heath was made to me subsequently.

"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."

Lord Armstrong of Ilminster, Sir Edward's former principle private secretary said the allegations were "absolute nonsense."

The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation said: "We welcome the investigation by Wiltshire Police, which we wholeheartedly believe will clear Sir Edward's name and we will co-operate fully with the police in their inquiries."

Sir Edward, who led the Conservative government between 1970 and 1974, never married and kept his private life under wraps.

One biographer concluded that he may have been a "latent or repressed homosexual" while another thought he was "pretty well sexless".

Sir Edward died at home in Salisbury aged 89 in July 2005.

:: The NSPCC helpline for the Edward Heath inquiry is 0808 800 5000.