The scale of police inquiries into allegations of child sex abuse linked to former Conservative Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath has widened dramatically with at least five police forces across the UK now investigating separate claims.

On Monday, Wiltshire Police appealed for potential victims and witnesses to come forward after the Tory politician, who died aged 89 in 2005, became the most high-profile figure embroiled in historical child sex claims.

The force said that since its appeal it had received a mixture of intelligence and third party phone calls and would be “reviewing the information and following up any lines of inquiry as a result".

But in fast-moving developments, it became clear Sir Edward was also being investigated in connection with Scotland Yard’s inquiry, Operation Midland, into allegations of a VIP paedophile ring, which operated in Pimlico near Westminster and across southern England in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Metropolitan Police has not confirmed the claims and a force spokesman made clear it was “not giving a running commentary on Operation Midland".

It was then confirmed that the ex-premier featured in the States of Jersey Police’s inquiry, Operation Whistle, into alleged historical abuse on the island. It is suggested some of the claims relate to abuse "within institutions or by people of public prominence".

This investigation was launched in June as part of Operation Hydrant, a UK-wide co-ordination of sex abuse probes.

Later, Kent Police said it had received a report of a sexual assault in the east of the county in the 1960s linked to Sir Edward.

"The victim has named Sir Edward Heath in connection with the allegation,” explained a force spokesman. “Detectives are making initial inquiries and will obtain a full account from the victim," he added.

The alleged victim, now in his 60s, claimed he was raped at the age of 12 by the former PM. He said he had reported being sexually assaulted by the Conservative MP in 1961 but at the time was dismissed as "a liar and a fantasist".

Hampshire Police has also confirmed it is investigating allegations made.

The initial linking of Sir Edward's name to paedophile allegations began on Monday when the police watchdog, the IPCC, announced an inquiry into allegations that a prosecution against an unnamed individual had been shelved after a threat was made to "expose" the former PM.

It was claimed that a woman, who was in charge of a brothel – said to have been operating within a mile of the ex-PM’s Salisbury home - had been due to stand trial but threatened to expose Sir Edward as a client. The case against her was allegedly discontinued between 1990 and 1995.

But it has been suggested the woman was later convicted of controlling prostitutes after a successful prosecution by Wiltshire Police. She was jailed for six years after a trial, which included allegations that she had supplied children as young as 13 to her clients.

However, it is not known if the force decided to re-investigate the woman's original allegation against Sir Edward after she was convicted.

At Westminster, Tom Watson, the Labour MP, said that since 2012 he had passed information relating to two allegations of child abuse involving Sir Edward to the police.

Meantime, friends of the ex-party leader have dismissed the abuse claims, saying there is not a shred of evidence to link the ex-PM to them.

Glasgow Times:

The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation said: "We welcome the investigation by Wiltshire Police, which we wholeheartedly believe will clear Sir Edward's name and we will co-operate fully with them in their inquiries."

Brian Binley, the ex-Tory MP who worked in Sir Edward's office for a period of time, said he found the allegations very hard to believe from the Ted Heath he knew.

"There are many unanswered questions here and I don't think it would be right and fair to jump to conclusions about a man who served his country with dignity and with care; who was a considerable intellect, loved his music.

"We must be very careful. It's easy to smear people (who are) not around," he stressed.

Sir Edward, who led the Conservative Government between 1970 and 1974, never married and was famously reticent about his private life.

One biographer concluded that he could have been a latent or repressed homosexual while another thought he was "pretty well sexless".