BBC man called Cliff a ‘celebrity paedo’, says police chief
A BBC journalist referred to Cliff Richard as a ‘celebrity paedo’ as he demanded that police give him an exclusive tipoff about their search of the singer’s home, a court heard yesterday.
The police officer who led the sexual assault inquiry into the star spoke of his anger over the BBC’s coverage of the case.
Former detective superintendent Matthew Fenwick said journalist Dan Johnson threatened to reveal the singer was under investigation unless he was tipped off about the police search of his apartment.
Mr Johnson knew ‘significant’ information about the police inquiry before detectives had even interviewed the alleged victim, the retired police officer told the High Court.
Sir Cliff, 77, is suing the BBC for ‘substantial damages’ after it aired live television footage of the search of his home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, in August 2014, which he claimed was an invasion of privacy and left his reputation ‘forever tainted’. The BBC disputes his claim.
In a later text message to South Yorkshire Police’s head of communications, Carrie Goodwin, Mr Fenwick said: ‘The BBC forced us to do a deal.’ Miss Goodwin described the BBC’s tactics as ‘blackmail’.
Mr Fenwick told the court Mr Johnson contacted his force in July 2014 to say he was ready to run a story that Sir Cliff was under investigation for an alleged sexual assault against a boy in the 1980s.
Mr Fenwick said he was concerned media attention would damage the investigation, so agreed to meet Mr Johnson. He denied he had confirmed details of the investigation to the journalist, and said Mr Johnson already knew key details about the alleged assault, said to have taken place at a Billy Graham event in Sheffield in the mid-1980s, when the alleged victim was aged between 12 and 14.
Mr Fenwick told the High Court in London that the journalist claimed his information came from Operation Yewtree
‘The BBC forced us to do a deal’
– Scotland Yard’s investigation into historical child sex attacks – and gave details of the supposed assault.
Mr Fenwick said: ‘Dan Johnson knew significant information before he came to the meeting. Before I met Dan Johnson he was referring to Sir Cliff Richard as a celebrity paedo.’
He said he felt he had no choice but to cooperate with Mr Johnson in an attempt to delay his report, and agreed the reporter would be told when police planned to search the singer’s home.
He said: ‘It did not seem as though it would be possible to stop Dan Johnson from reporting the story altogether but I was very concerned that if he reported it now, as he said he was ready to, then the investigation would be prejudiced...’
Sir Cliff, wearing a grey blazer with a black trim, listened intently from the back of the court. Also at court were Fran Unsworth, now the BBC’s director of news, who signed off on the story, and Jonathan Munro, its head of newsgathering, who oversaw coverage of the police raid. Sir Cliff broke down in the witness box last week as he told of the devastating impact of the report of the search.
He has always denied the sex assault allegation and was never arrested. In June 2016 prosecutors announced he would face no charges.
The BBC disputes Sir Cliff’s claim for breach of privacy and the Data Protection Act. Its lawyers have said the police search was a ‘matter of legitimate public interest’ and that its reporting was accurate and included the singer’s full denial.
The case continues.