POLICE have raided the homes of former Home Secretary Lord Brittan, six weeks after his death.

Detectives executed a search warrant at the late Tory grandee's property outside Spennithorne, near Leyburn as part of Operation Midland, which is looking at allegations of child sex abuse focusing on Westminster.

Scotland Yard detectives also swooped on the home in Pimlico, London, of the former barrister and Richmond MP, who died aged 75 in January following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Lord Brittan was elected as MP for Whitby and Cleveland in 1974 and in 1983, became the youngest home secretary since Winston Churchill.

The Metropolitan Police declined to give details of the searches, but confirmed it had been among four raids carried out at dawn on Wednesday (March 4).

In a coordinated operation, officers also raided properties in Farnham, Surrey and an address in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

Two of the properties are understood to belong to Field Marshall Lord Bramall of Bushfield, the former chief of the defence staff and a D-Day veteran and former Tory MP Harvey Proctor , 68.

It is not known whether Lord Bramall, 91, was present at the property.

Richmond Conservative Association members said they had been left reeling by the raids on their former president's home and accused police of insensitivity as regards the timing of the operation.

One North Yorkshire Conservative said: "Do you have to go at dawn to the house of an elderly widow?

"I sincerely hope that the people who are running this investigation are looking at the proportionatility of what is going on."

Another party member said: "Lady Brittan is down to earth and absolutely delightful, I can't begin to think what she is going through.

"Members are feeling dreadfully sorry for her, it is insensitive."