BBC man called Cliff ‘celebrity paedo’ – court told

A BBC reporter referred to Sir Cliff Richard as a “celebrity paedo” during a secret meeting with a detective ahead of a raid on the star’s home, a court heard yesterday.

Ex-South Yorkshire Police detective superintendent Matthew Fenwick told the High Court how he met BBC reporter Dan Johnson about Sir Cliff.

Mr Fenwick said Mr Johnson knew the force was investigating an allegation of child sexual abuse against Sir Cliff, during the meeting in July 2014.

Mr Fenwick said the reporter “stated” he had got his information from Operation Yewtree, but later denied his source was linked to the investigation.

Invasion

Mr Fenwick said: “When I left the meeting I was under no illusion that his information was from a police source.

“He explained to us that he was ready to publish an exclusive about the investigation and wanted a comment from us.

“I accepted that he was ready to publish a story because of where he said he had got his information from.”

Mr Fenwick said he did not want Mr Johnson to run a story at the time because it could “compromise the investigation”.

He told the court: “He said he could and he would and we came to an arrangement that he wouldn’t publish it then but that we would notify him when we were ready to take further action.”

Mr Fenwick said he told Mr Johnson they were considering a search of Sir Cliff’s home in August that year, but they declined his request to attend the raid.

Sir Cliff, 77, claims coverage of the August raid was a “very serious invasion” of privacy. He was never charged with any offence and is suing the BBC for “substantial damages”. The BBC denies the claims.

The case continues.