From the book "Surprise Coup - Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup 1993": Sir Edward Heath in conversation with designer Dick Carter. The picture from 1971 shows the most popular sailor in England at the time, who was Prime Minister of his country from 1970 to 1974
The case sounds like something out of a dark British thriller: In England, police investigations have been going on for a year against former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, who died in 2005 at the age of 89. Heath, known as a passionate sailor and owner of a total of five yachts called "Morning Cloud", allegedly abused and murdered children on his yacht, according to alleged victims. The investigation, called "Operation Conifer", is ongoing, according to the British newspaper "The Daily Telegraph". So far, the statements and accusations of the alleged victims have apparently not been substantiated by evidence.
Sir Edward Heath
In a statement, according to The Daily Telegraph, Heath is accused of taking two boys from a children's home in Jersey sailing, abusing one of the boys and then throwing his body overboard. While Heath's former fellow sailors stated that they had never witnessed any wrongdoing, the police have so far refused to provide information about when and where the crimes should have happened. Heath's former fellow sailors call the investigation "ridiculous" and demand that it be stopped immediately.
The former Morning Cloud sailor Anthony Churchill, 81, told the Telegraph: "We don't believe a word about it. I know that eight of us have already been interviewed. We can all say the same thing: nothing improper has happened. We feel like victims now, until the police quickly find out. " A spokesman for the Wiltshire Police Department told the newspaper: "We have a duty to proactively investigate on behalf of the people who have told us they have been molested. We are committed to being proportionate, independent and fair with the claim to provide the public with an appropriate response from the police. We cannot release details of the ongoing police investigation until it is over because it would not be fair to either side."
That's how popular Sir Heath was in 1971
In total, the police have interviewed a dozen people who sailed with Edward Heath in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Heath won the Sydney Hobart Race in 1969 with the "Morning Cloud" and thus achieved an extremely high level of popularity in his home country. A little later he was elected Prime Minister. In 1971 Heath, regarded by his crews and international sailors as personable and fair, won the Admiral's Cup with the British team. Among his long-term companions was the three-time Hamburg Admiral's Cup winner Hans-Otto Schümann, who died in 2014 and who, like Heath, survived the fatal Fastnet Race in 1979. The "Morning Cloud" and Schümann's "Rubin" crossed the finish line almost at the same time.
Here is the original article from the Telegraph
