Former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath would have been interviewed under caution if he had been alive to face allegations of historical child sex abuse, a report has revealed.

The report details the results of Operation Conifer, an investigation led by Wiltshire Police on behalf of the National Police Service launched in 2015 when Sir Edward was named as a suspect.

Seven of the 42 claims against him - which included rape and indecent assault of children aged as young as 10 - met the criteria for further investigation, Wiltshire Police said.

But 19 allegations would have been discounted due to "undermining information" being available.

It comes after a leading criminologist, who helped police with the inquiry, told ITV News that some of the evidence was "fantastical", and exposed a "catalogue of fabrication".

The report concludes:

In two cases, the report reveals, there is evidence to suggest those making the claims "may have attempted to intentionally mislead the police" in naming Sir Edward as their abuser.

A criminal investigation is still underway regarding one of those two people, it states.

In the other, the person was formally cautioned for wasting police time after they admitted that they had made three separate reports to police, where they claimed to be three different people.

The report goes on to emphasise that "no inference of guilt should be drawn by the decision to interview under caution."

"The account from Sir Edward Heath would have been as important as other evidence gathered as part of the wider investigation," it adds.

Operation Conifer sparked controversy almost from the start, after a senior police officer made a television appeal outside Sir Edward's former home in Salisbury urging victims to come forward.

Friends and colleagues of the late Sir Edward, who died in 2005, have been vocal in their support - accusing police of conducting a "witch hunt" against someone who was not alive to defend himself.

Following its release on Thursday, Lord Hunt of Wirral, chair of the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation, and Lord Armstrong of Ilminster, former Cabinet Secretary, released a joint statement slamming the report as "profoundly unsatisfactory".

The findings will be passed to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which is being chaired by Professor Alexis Jay.