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The UK's House of Lords is to debate this afternoon whether an investigation into a former prime minister's alleged sexual offences - which included allegations made in the Channel Islands - should be the subject of an independent inquiry.
Operation Conifer, an investigation involving police forces across 14 jurisdictions including Jersey and Guernsey, found in 2017 that if he had still been alive, Sir Edward Heath would have been interviewed under caution over six alleged offences.
Today, the House of Lords will ask the UK government to consider the possibility of holding an independent inquiry into the investigation.
The question was brought to the Lords by Lord Lexden, a Conservative life peer who has been the official historian of the Conservative Party since 2009.
His position is that there might not be enough evidence to support the allegations.
In an opinion piece in the political magazine The House in November, he said that "we owe it to the memory of a dead statesman... to get at the truth of this grave matter".
The question is scheduled in the House of Lords as a "short debate", a way for members to bring a matter to the government's attention.
Short debates last around 60 minutes end with a response from a minister or spokesperson.
Wiltshire Police published their findings in 2017 and though they found that Sir Edward would have been brought in for questioning had he still been alive, the report also stressed that this did not mean to say he was guilty.
The report took into consideration a total of 42 disclosures – some of which were later proven to be mistaken or misleading – which were spread across 14 different police jurisdictions. Those included the States of Jersey and States of Guernsey Police.
It concluded that, were he alive today, Sir Edward would have been interviewed under caution over six alleged offences to gain an account.
One of those was said to have taken place in Jersey in February 1976 when he was MP for Sidcup – an alleged indecent assault of an adult male “during a chance encounter at a public event.”
Another was said to have taken place in Guernsey in 1967, when Sir Edward was MP for Bexley and Leader of the Opposition. He was alleged to have "indecently assaulted a 15-year-old male, not known to him, during a chance encounter in a public building".
At the time, Detective Superintendent Stewart Gull of the States of Jersey Police confirmed that four allegations were reported that occurred in the island.
He added: “The investigation and report has concluded that one of the allegations relating to Jersey would have resulted in Sir Edward Heath being interviewed under caution, had he been alive today.”
But the investigation drew some criticism, including a lack of evidence and criticism of how it was launched and publicised as well as how it was carried out.
In his call for an independent inquiry, Lord Lexden also argued that Sir Edward had not been able to respond to the allegations and that Mike Veale, the police officer who led Operation Conifer, was barred from serving in 2023 after he made unwanted sexual remarks to colleagues.
Lord Lexden asked the House of Lords in October 2023: "Do we not owe it to the memory of a dead statesman, the only first minister of the Crown ever to be suspected of such serious crimes, to get at the truth of this grave matter and settle the doubts created by the disgraced Veale?"
Former PM Heath accused of child abuse in Jersey
WATCH: Former PM would have been questioned over alleged Jersey sexual assault
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