Hounding of Heath: Bogus claims of satanism, child abuse and murder against former PM - and a £1.5 million police farce

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

Ten years after former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath died, he was smeared with vile and bizarre false claims of satanism, child abuse and murder, including using a bear-claw glove to disembowel children. Why did police believe the claims against him - and was it to do with Heath’s sexuality? Award-winning crime-writer Stephen Wright talks to Heath’s godson, Lincoln Seligman (who knew him as ‘Uncle Teddy’), and his former political secretary and biographer, Michael McMannus about how - unlike other establishment figures falsely accused of similar crimes - Heath had no children to defend him, and why police chose to believe the ‘wicked and cruel’ allegations against him. And they explain why Home Secretary Priti Patel should ensure officers are held to account over their shocking blunders.

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