A former Conservative MP who has faced accusations linking him to the killing of a boy in Kingston, and further allegations of sexual abuse, has called the claims "totally untrue" and a "heinous calumny".

Ex-Basildon and Billericay MP Harvey Proctor made the statement at an extraordinary press conference yesterday.

He poured scorn on the Metropolitan Police's Operation Midland, which is investigating historic child sex abuse allegations against well known Establishment figures including former Prime Minister Edward Heath.

In the press conference Mr Proctor disclosed police documents detailing a number of accusations against him by 'Nick', an anonymous informant, including that he was present at a central London party in 1981 or 1982 where a boy was killed, and where Nick was raped after being picked up from Kingston station.

The alleged fatal running over of a boy in Coombe Hill, in 1979, did not directly involve Mr Proctor, Nick claimed.

However, the former MP was "part of the group responsible" for "systematic sexual abuse" and that killing, he told police.

Mr Proctor said: "I am completely innocent of all these allegations. I am a homosexual. I am not a murderer; I am not a paedophile or pederast.

"I denied all and each of the allegations in turn and in detail, and categorised them as false.

"They amount to just about the worst allegations anyone can make against another person, including as they do multiple murder of children, their torture, grievous bodily harm, rape and sexual child abuse.

"I appeal to any witness who can truthfully say I committed any of these horrible crimes to come forward now.

"Let me be frank. I pleaded guilty to four charges of gross indecency in 1987 relating to the then-age of consent for homosexual activity.

"Those offences are no longer offences. The age of consent has dropped from 21, to 18, to 16.

"What I am being accused of now is a million miles away from that consensual activity."

Mr Proctor stepped down from public office in 1987 after his conviction and has sought a private life since then, he added. He called Operation Midland a "witch-hunt" and said it should be wound up.