Edward Heath: Operation Conifer and the Ritual Abuse Information Network & Support

In a comment to this blog and in a letter published on a conspiracy website, Robert Green has confirmed that his “regular contact” with Chief Constable Mike Veale into allegations of child sex abuse against former Prime Minister Edward Heath pertained to information that has its origins with Joan Coleman of RAINS, the Ritual Abuse Information Network & Support. Green’s contact with Veale came to wider attention last week, when the Sunday Times noted that Veale had emailed Green with the message “As ever thank you Robert”.

We can also infer Green’s allegation was derived from the notorious “Helen G.” document, in which dozens of public figures ranging from comedians to politicians are accused of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA). Green writes:

For the record, I was merely acting as a messenger in relaying details to Chief Constable Veale regarding information passed on to me by the eminent specialist into sexual abuse, Dr Joan Coleman. Five witnesses, all totally independent of each other, had provided, years ago, evidence of being sexually assaulted by Heath and all had referred to the same highly unusual feature about Heath common to all five cases. Hence the credibility of the evidence of witnesses as described by the Chief Constable.

I had absolutely no personal contact with any of these witnesses, nor do I know of their identities. As Dr Coleman is very elderly, I was entrusted with this information over seven years ago. Included also was evidence against Jimmy Savile, well before the Daily Mail or any other mainstream publication had the courage to expose this notorious paedophile.

Here is that “highly unusual feature”, from the “Helen G.” document:

Ted Heath. Former Prime Minister. Homosexual but not exclusively, where children are concerned. He has been mentioned by at least 5 SRAS, none of whom know each other. Several have described long finger nails. Am told that he wore false claws added to his nails, with which he clawed his child victims. He died in 2005. The cult held their own funeral on 31st July – 1st August 2005.

The “false claws” claim is probably a way to explain away the fact that photos of Heath do not substantiate the “long finger nails”. There is no information about how this supposed information was elicited from the “5 SRAS”, but it seems likely that therapy was involved. SAFF (the Sub-culture Alternatives Freedom Foundation) notes:

Working for years behind the scenes to promote the idea of child abusing Cults and Satanists RAINS members and associated therapists  built up a tranche of  ‘victims’  from the pool of recidivist mentally ill. They spent a long time working on the narrative of SRA and defining their victims’ experiences with scant checks to avoid the confabulation of  previously ‘unremembered’  satanic experiences. 

One popular method they used was to allow patients to lie down go into reverie and ‘reverse remember’ their past… These ‘Recovered Memories’ (most of which were half fact, half fiction) were blithely accepted as whole real memories nevertheless.    

I previously noted the “Helen G.” document here, as a possible source for new “historic” allegations against celebrities, and again last month, when it was revealed that it had been cited in a supposedly academic presentation on “The Satanist Cult of Ted Heath”. The document was apparently compiled in 2007 (and it is perhaps worth noting in passing that Jimmy Savile’s name does not in fact appear in it).

Veale’s “As ever thank you Robert” email may have been the polite humouring of a crank, but there is good reason to believe that at one time the SRA claims against Heath were being taken very seriously. RAINS would also have been commended to Veale by retired Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll, who has a long-standing association with the group: Driscoll recently told the Guardian that he had been been in contact with the investigation.

The Operation Conifer Summary Report (discussed by me in general here) says that:

During the course of the investigation six victims made disclosures that included allegations that Sir Edward Heath was involved in satanic or ritual abuse… Two of the alleged victims of ritual abuse died before Operation Conifer commenced. They had made disclosures of alleged ritual abuse where it was alleged that Sir Edward Heath was a perpetrator. There was limited opportunity to investigate those disclosures further.

It’s not clear from this whether there were six or eight accusers – “two of the alleged victims… died” implies two of the six, but if they died “before Operation Conifer commenced” then they cannot have made their claims “during the course of the investigation”. We cannot know if police traced any of Green’s “five witnesses”, or whether the supposed “disclosures” instead came from other sources, but his five plus “Lucy X” comes to six overall. In any case, though:

Following investigation, no further corroborative evidence was found to support the disclosures that Sir Edward Heath was involved in ritual abuse.

The allegations did not make it into the group for which Wiltshire Police say they would have interviewed Heath under caution – this is despite the fact that there is no indication of positive “undermining evidence”. According to the Report, “undermining evidence” relates to physical impossibilities, inconsistencies and contradictions; this means that a claim would not be dismissed just because there is no evidence for it, even if the claims-maker lacks credibility or the claim itself is extravagant.

It thus looks like the police simply baulked at the idea of making themselves a laughingstock by confirming that they would have interviewed Heath on such a subject.

Excursus

In his statement, Green rails that he was imprisoned as part of a conspiracy rather than because he had harassed people, and he accuses a particular journalist of writing critically about SRA because she herself is a Satanist. He also writes that “I had been nominated by a senior Westminster parliamentarian to receive the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize”.

Among those agreeing that Green has been traduced by disobliging media references is none other than Belinda McKenzie, who formerly supported Green in his “Hollie Grieg” campaigning – Hoaxtead Research notes that she has posted on the subject to Facebook, including an old photo of herself with Green. These days, McKenzie is known for promoting the “Hampstead” Satanic Ritual Abuse hoax; she is David Shayler’s former landlady, and according to researcher Paul Stott she is “the primary funder of the UK and Ireland 9/11 Truth Movement”. She was also formerly involved with support for the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, aka MEK – blogged here).