Ted Heath was gay but he was no paedophile, says former brothel madam

An ex-brothel keeper at the centre of the Sir Edward Heath child sex scandal claims he was a "shy gay man" but not a paedophile.

Myra Ling-Ling Forde said she arranged male escorts for the former prime minister in the Nineties but insisted "he was not into sex with children".

In an interview with The Sun Forde said: "He was just a very secretive and shy gay man.

"It was impossible for someone in his position to be openly gay at the time so he came to me."

Seven police forces in England are currently investigating child sex claims around Sir Edward, who died in 2005.

But Forde, who denies claims she threatened to expose him before a prosecution against her collapsed in the 1990s, says detectives will find no evidence.

Forde told the newspaper the pair first met through a newspaper advert in 1990.

She said he initially told her his name was "John" and went on to pay £500 a time for meetings with foreign male escorts.

But when she later recognised him from a picture in a newspaper he did not call upon her services again.

"I used to get calls from awful men asking for underage sex, but he definitely wasn't one of them," she told The Sun.

"He wasn't into sex with children. He was specific from the start he wanted men over 21 and under 30 and I was happy to help him as I didn't see anything wrong with providing that service.

"People should stop blackening his name. He was just a lonely gay man who deserves to rest in peace."

Forde was jailed for in 1995 for running a brothel with underage girls and again in 2009 for inciting prostitution but she has always denied corrupting children.