Ted Heath report 'could be buried' after police pass file to Independent Inquiry into Child Abuse, his family fear

The police force investigating claims of paedophilia against Sir Edward Heath has been accused of trying to bury the findings after announcing it would be passing its report to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

Wiltshire Police has been criticised for spending two years and almost £2 million probing allegations against the former Tory Prime Minister, who died more than a decade ago.

Last week the force announced that the investigation - Operation Conifer - was drawing to a close, with a report expected to be published in the Autumn.

But in a fresh twist the force has now said the findings are to be passed to the wide-ranging inquiry being chaired by Professor Alexis Jay.

A spokesman said: "We have briefed IICSA and we will make available to them our report such that they can consider it relative to the terms of reference of the public inquiry."

But supporters of Sir Edward, who have described Operation Conifer as a "witch-hunt", have warned that Wiltshire Police could use the role of the inquiry to bury the findings.

Lincoln Seligman, Sir Edward's godson, accused the Wiltshire Chief Constable of trying to “kick Operation Conifer into the long grass”, but said the Jay inquiry had already rejected the idea of dealing with the report.

He said: “Lord Macdonald ex DPP has already said publicly that Conifer report is 'wildly beyond the remit of the Jay inquiry.

“Alexis Jay doesn't want it and can't take it so Mr Veale suggesting otherwise does not stack up. Sadly for him IICSA cannot be the long grass into which he's hoping to kick Conifer.”

Operation Conifer was launched in August 2015 when Wiltshire police appealed for "victims" of Sir Edward to come forward.

In April, police said two people arrested in connection with child protection issues had been released without charge.

Sir Edward, who led the Conservative government from 1970 to 1974, died at home in Salisbury in July 2005, aged 89.

In December, the chief constable of Wiltshire Police, Mike Veale, wrote a public letter to "set the record straight" about the investigation.

He described the former Conservative prime minister as an "extremely prominent, influential and high-profile person" and said the decision to undertake the "incredibly complex and

challenging investigation" was "not taken lightly".

Mr Veale said the probe was "complex and multi-stranded" and was "not a fishing trip or witch hunt".

He stressed he took his responsibilities of operational independence "very seriously" and said he would not be "buckling under pressure not to investigate or to conclude the investigation prematurely".