Cliff ‘was reduced to skin and bones by his BBC betrayal’
Gloria Hunniford tells court of star’s torment
‘Seemed broken and confused’
SIR Cliff Richard was reduced to ‘skin and bones’ because of his torment over the BBC’s coverage of his police investigation, his close friend Gloria Hunniford said yesterday.
The television presenter described the singer as a ‘gentle and kind soul’ and said she was horrified by the physical, mental and emotional toll she witnessed during his twoyear ordeal.
Miss Hunniford, a confidante of Sir Cliff, only learned he was under investigation when she saw BBC coverage of the police search of his apartment. She said the broadcasts had left him feeling ‘violated and betrayed’.
The 77-year- old singer 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’. BBC lawyers dispute his claim.
In a witness statement given to the High Court in London, Miss Hunniford said Sir Cliff had been shocked by the search and ‘utterly distraught’ that it was broadcast around the world, as part of coverage that he was under investigation for an alleged sexual assault on a child.
‘He has always been the most positive and upbeat of people, but speaking to him he seemed a different person; broken and extremely confused,’ she said.
As the investigation continued, she began to notice changes in his behaviour and personality. ‘I encountered a real emotional and mental change in him, and even a physical one,’ she said.
‘When I spent time with him in the period after the BBC’s broadcasts, he was no longer his easy-going, genial self. He was clearly trying to stay positive and put on a brave face on things, but he was not quite succeeding.
‘He expressed concern about feeling like a prisoner in his own home, fearful of going out in case he might be ambushed by a reporter or a photographer, or worse. More generally, he appeared tired and distracted.
‘While it was still a pleasure to spend time in his company, I could tell that there were heavy burdens weighing on his mind. He had also lost weight.
‘This is not something he should have been put through, particularly at his stage of life, when his health was so likely to be adversely affected.’
Miss Hunniford said Sir Cliff had not wanted to spend time in Britain and ‘felt like he had been driven out of his home in the UK’.
The singer was interviewed twice, in 2014 and 2015, but never arrested. The CPS finally announced in 2016 that he would not be charged with any offence. Miss Hunniford said they went on a cruise from the South of France with friends immediately afterwards. She said: ‘He spoke of how relieved he was, and I could tell that he was, but at the same time I could still see evidence of the toll that this extraordinarily difficult time had taken upon him. When I gave him a hug, he had lost so much weight that he felt like skin and bones.’
South Yorkshire Police investigated the initial alleged sexual assault, said to have after happened at a event featuring US evangelist Billy Graham in Sheffield in 1985, and led the search at Sir Cliff’s home.
Its officers said they felt ‘blackmailed’ into cooperating with the BBC because one of its journalists had threatened to reveal details of its investigation unless he was given an exclusive tip-off. In the hours the search, the journalist, Dan Johnson, texted the force’s head of communications, Carrie Goodwin, saying it had been a ‘bonkers but brilliant’ day. She replied: ‘Everyone thinks we tipped you off so lots of grief from the media but nothing we cannot handle.’
The police force has apologised to Sir Cliff and agreed to pay him £700,000 in legal costs and damages.
BBC lawyers have suggested the force was ‘perfectly happy to use’ the broadcaster to get publicity for a high- profile investigation against an alleged sex offender, following a storm of negative publicity about its handling of the Rotherham child sex exploitation scandal. The force denied the claim.
The BBC disputes Sir Cliff’s claim for breach of privacy and the Data Protection Act and 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 of any wrongdoing.
The trial continues.