New ordeal for Cliff
Six-week wait to learn if sex abuse case will be reopened
SIR Cliff Richard faces an agonising six-week wait to learn whether the decision not to charge him over historical sex abuse claims will be reversed.
Prosecutors are reviewing the case against the 75-year-old pop star after the main accuser appealed for the evidence to be reconsidered.
The man – whose claim was found to be riddled with inaccuracies – sparked the original police investigation in April 2014.
He told officers that as a young boy he was sexually assaulted by Sir Cliff in 1983 at a rally in a Sheffield stadium for the US evangelist Billy Graham.
The complainant, who has not been named, has requested that the Crown Prosecution Service should review its decision not to bring charges.
Sir Cliff revealed in the Mail after the initial CPS decision in June that the man’s account was full of errors. He said: ‘The accuser got everything wrong. He got the year wrong. That rally wasn’t until 1985. It [the attack] was supposed to have happened in a room that hadn’t even been built then.’
Sir Cliff said South Yorkshire Police should have ‘dumped that there and then’ in 2014. Instead detectives continued to appeal for witnesses, even though several officers who had been part of the security on the night in question came forward offering to speak up for the star.
‘They were ignored,’ said Sir Cliff. ‘They phoned the lawyers independently and said they would like to make a statement saying they were there, on guard, and they didn’t think it was possible.’
The allegations prompted eight other accusers to come forward. Four of these, who alleged abuse dating between 1958 and 1983, had their cases considered by prosecutors.
But senior CPS lawyers took just a few weeks to reject the evidence collected by detectives over 22 months, raising concerns about the handling of the investigation.
Now the principal complainant has asked for that decision to be reviewed in his case. The CPS is currently reviewing his allegation alone – but under the Victim’s Right To Review guidelines other accusers, who remain anonymous could make a challenge if they apply within three months of the initial decision not to prosecute.
The code was revised in 2013 so that alleged victims could seek a review of decisions not to charge, to discontinue or otherwise terminate all proceedings. Regardless of what police and prosecutors think of their evidence, the CPS is duty-bound to reconsider the allegations within six weeks.
Mark Williams-Thomas, an investigative journalist and former detective who worked on an ITV documentary exposing Jimmy Savile as a prolific predatory paedophile, was first contacted by the main accuser in October 2012, in the wake of the programme. Yesterday he told the Mail the man’s application was lodged at the beginning of August.
He said: ‘He is seeking a review of the CPS decision and he is awaiting a date for an appointment to see the CPS reviewer. His solicitor has gone through a complicated process to launch a review.’
Sir Cliff was told of the development days before the death of his 73-year-old sister Donna Goulden in early August. Last week the singer met fans at his vineyard in the Algarve, Portugal.
He told them: ‘I’m back to my best. I’m OK, everything will be OK. I want to thank all my fans for being so amazing.’ After the investigation was dropped in June, Sir Cliff had said he was ‘thrilled’.
‘I have always maintained my innocence, co- operated fully with the investigation, and cannot understand why it has taken so long to get to this point,’ he said. ‘Nevertheless, I am obviously thrilled that the vile accusations and the resulting investigation have finally been brought to a close.’
Sir Cliff is suing South Yorkshire Police and the BBC, who filmed detectives searching his apartment in Berkshire in 2014 – leading to him being named publicly as the subject of the probe.
A CPS spokesman said: ‘We have received a Victims’ Right To Review request. It is ongoing.’ A spokesman for Sir Cliff declined to comment.
‘Claims were all wrong’