Prostitute at centre of Heath storm

Former British Prime Minister Edward Heath takes tea in the garden of his home in 1989. Photo / AP

The woman at the centre of the Sir Edward Heath child abuse storm is a Filipino prostitute who ran a brothel just a kilometre from the late Prime Minister's former home in Salisbury.

Myra Ling-Ling Forde, 67, has twice been jailed for operating as a madam out of her home in the Wiltshire town where Heath lived after leaving office. But in the early 1990s it is alleged she had a prosecution dropped after threatening to expose Heath as a paedophile.

A retired senior detective came forward last year to allege that his colleagues quietly dropped a trial against twice-married Forde to protect the reputation of the former Tory leader. That allegation is now the subject of an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation, but Wiltshire police have also appealed for any potential victims of Heath to come forward.

Heath is now at the centre of five separate police investigations.

Allegations, including claims that he raped a 12-year-old boy in London in the 1960s, are now being investigated by the Metropolitan Police. Jersey police have also confirmed that the former Premier's name has been linked to its investigation into abuse at the Haut de la Garenne.

Kent police said they were looking at allegations against Heath dating back to the 1960s. The States of Jersey police also confirmed Heath featured in Operation Whistle, which also involves Jimmy Savile.

Despite claims that she had used threats against Heath to avoid prosecution in the early 1990s, Forde was convicted in 1995 of running a brothel full of underage girls from her Salisbury property. A court heard how she trained runaway children as call girls, often picking up youngsters who were in the care system.

Winchester Crown Court heard how one 13-year-old girl would go straight from school to the brothel.