Virginia Blackburn

SIR CLIFF RICHARD has been awarded £210,000 on the back of his absolutely appalling treatment by the BBC. Good. I wish it had been twice that. When it comes to sheer nastiness, it is hard to match this one. Not only was there no public interest involved, not only had they invaded the privacy of someone who has done nothing but provide entertainment to the public, but their actions were also horrible. They wanted Cliff to be guilty, make no bones about that.

For the fact of the matter is that Sir Cliff is a target in a way that other public figures who have been targeted by fantasists and liars were not.

He has been uncompromising about his religious beliefs: he is a practising Christian, which is not a fashionable stance to take these days. As far as anyone can tell, his has been a clean-living lifestyle: no drink and drugs hell there.

He has not been in the habit of fathering numerous children with numerous women and as for the constant rumours about his personal life, he has behaved with dignity and discretion. In other words, he is clearly a decent human being and there are some people out there who simply cannot bear to accept that.

From the moment the allegations first surfaced I never believed a word of it and neither, as far as I can tell, did most people. It was all patently absurd. But there were a handful of people who wanted to see a decent man, above all a Christian man,