Ted Heath madam: former PM not a paedophile

A BROTHEL madam at the centre of allegations against former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath has told Channel 4 News he was not a paedophile, just an “old, sad, gay man.”

Myra Forde, 67, who has convictions for running a brothel in Salisbury, just a mile from Mr Heath’s home, claimed that she found him “company, and he was happy.”

But she insisted: “He never asked me for children.”

Ms Forde’s comments come after claims she had threatened to expose the former Prime Minister as a paedophile in a bid to avoid prosecution – something that she strenuously denies.

The IPCC announced last Monday it was investigating a claim that charges against her were dropped in the early 1990s to avoid the claims surfacing.

It led to a succession of seven police forces publicly revealing they are investigating the former Prime Minister in relation to child sex abuse allegations.

But Ms Forde’s involvement is unclear, and her recounting of events has changed a number of times.

Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Ms Forde released a statement through her solicitor saying she had “no involvement with Ted Heath of any kind.”

However, that was thrown into doubt when the former prosecutor in the case, Nigel Seed QC alleged that she had threatened to claim she provided rent boys to Sir Edward.

“There was no suggestion at that stage [the time of the case] that they were anything other than male prostitutes run by her,” he said in a letter to The Times.

But he insisted the case only fell through when witnesses against her refused to appear.

Now Ms Forde has claimed that she did find the former Prime Minister men to sleep with, but insisted she doesn’t believe he had any interest in children.

Speaking to Channel 4 News said: “I can’t really tarnish his name. I promised him that. I’d like to put it straight that he’s not a paedophile. He’s just an old sad, gay man.

“I gave him company and he was happy.

“He never asked me for children, and I never supplied anybody young boys.”

“I promised the old boy I would never tarnish his name.”

‘He never asked me for children, and I never supplied anybody young boys.’ Myra Forde told Channel 4 News

Ms Forde was convicted in 1995 of running the Oriental Massage Parlour, in Meadow Road, Salisbury, around a mile from Sir Edward’s home.

The court heard she began recruiting underage girls to work with her, targeting care homes.

One 15-year-old girl told authorities she once had sex with five men at once.

Although Ms Forde denied the allegations in relation to underage girls, she was found guilty of prostitution offences and jailed.

She was convicted again in 2009, after pleading guilty to inciting prostitution and perverting the court of justice and sentenced to five years.

‘Confident’ he will be cleared

Sir Edward was famously reticent about his private life, and the former Prime Minister never married. a childhood friend Kay Raven was said to have grown tired of waiting for their relationship to become intimate, while musician Moura Lympany said that she was asked if she would marry Sir Edward, but said that he never proposed.

Michael McManus, who worked for the former Prime Minister for several years, wrote that he “was left in no doubt whatsoever that Heath was a gay man who had sacrificed his personal life to his political career.”

Sir Edward died aged 89 in 2005; his charitable foundation has said that it is confident that he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.