Ex-British prime minister named in child sex abuse investigation

LONDON — Britain’s police watchdog said Monday that it is investigating claims that authorities dropped a sex abuse case during the 1990s that contained an allegation against the former Prime Minister Edward Heath.

Heath, who died in 2005 at 89, was named by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which said the probe will look at Wiltshire Police’s investigation into an alleged claim of child sexual abuse made in the 1990s.

“It is alleged that a criminal prosecution was not pursued, when a person threatened to expose that Sir Edward Heath may have been involved in offences concerning children. In addition to this allegation, the IPCC will examine whether Wiltshire Police subsequently took any steps to investigate these claims,” the IPCC said in a statement on its website.