Police have issued the following statement following the conviction of Carl Beech, 51, from Gloucester, who has been found guilty of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud.
A Wiltshire Police spokesperson said: “Wiltshire Police commenced a national investigation in 2015, on behalf of 14 police forces, into allegations of non-recent sexual abuse made against Sir Edward Heath. The investigation was conducted in line with national advice from the College of Policing.
“Forty separate people made allegations against Sir Edward Heath, one of whom was Carl Beech.
“At no time did anyone from Wiltshire Police speak to or take statements from Carl Beech in relation to Operation Conifer. All information from Carl Beech regarding Operation Conifer was provided to Wiltshire Police by the Metropolitan Police’s investigation Operation Midland which was established in 2014. During the investigation, the specific allegations from Carl Beech were considered, by the senior investigating officer in Op Conifer, to have undermining evidence and a decision was taken at the time that we would not pursue further inquiries into the allegations made by Beech.
“As such, the Operation Conifer investigation concluded that had Sir Edward Heath been alive, he would not have been interviewed under caution concerning the allegations made by Carl Beech.
“Operation Hydrant was commissioned to carry out two, independent, reviews of Operation Conifer during the course of the investigation. The reviews concluded that national advice was being followed and the investigation had been conducted in a manner consistent with the application of the principles of legitimacy and proportionality. The investigation was also subject to review by an Independent Scrutiny Panel and the HMIC, who reached similar conclusions on the conduct of the investigation.”
The Op Conifer Summary Closure Report is still available on the police website.
