Journalist kicked out of UK during Heath probe

London - A US journalist has revealed that she was expelled from Britain in 2011 while researching claims that former prime minister Edward Heath and other prominent figures were involved in the sexual abuse of children in a care home on the island of Jersey, the LBC broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

Newsweek journalist Leah McGrath Goodman had been investigating the island's function as a tax haven when she began following the growing scandal over child sexual abuse.

She returned to Britain in September 2011 carrying a valid visa in her passport, but border officials stopped her at London's Heathrow airport.

After questioning, McGrath Goodman was expelled from the country and banned for 500 days.

"You wonder why they would take so much trouble with you unless they really wanted to scare you off, McGrath Goodman told LBC. "I felt like the attempt was to intimidate me."

Border officials later claimed she was expelled because they believed she planned to stay in Britain longer than her visa allowed.

McGrath Goodman, who was given a new visa in 2013, said she was aware of "widespread" rumours that Heath, on his yacht Morning Cloud, "would come to the island frequently".

"From what I understand from people on the island and off the island, he would take the children from care homes for a ride on the yacht," she said. "And it was reported that some of those children never came back."

Jersey police confirmed on Tuesday that they are investigating the allegations against Heath.

Following a four-year police investigation of child sexual abuse at care homes, Jersey authorities launched the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry in March 2011.

The ongoing public inquiry aims to "establish what went wrong in the island's care system over many years and to find answers for people who suffered abuse as children".