Sir Cliff: BBC knew I could be target for false claims
Singer cites report that slammed cops
SIR Cliff Richard should not have been named by the BBC as a suspected child abuser because they knew false claims were likely, his lawyers say.
The veteran singer’s team will use a report into a botched VIP paedophile probe to support his legal battle with the broadcaster, court papers reveal.
The report by a former High Court judge blasted Met police for a string of raids on public figures based only on the word of a fantasist known as Nick. Sir Cliff ’s lawyers argue that publicity around the Jimmy Savile scandal led to false claims being made.
BBC journalists should have considered that before they named Sir Cliff as a suspected abuser, they argue.
D-Day veteran Lord Bramall, late former Home Secretary Lord Brittan and ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor were all raided under the Met’s Operation Midland. But the investigation closed last year without any arrests. Sir Cliff ’s barrister, Justin Rushbrooke QC, states in High Court papers: “The Claimant will, if necessary, rely on the findings of the Independent Review of the Metropolitan Police Service’s handling of non-recent sexual offence investigations produced by Sir Richard Henriques.” The review found failings including giving false information to a judge and announcing Nick’s claims were “credible and true”. It said police searched one suspect’s home “as if looking for bodies”. Sir Cliff, 76, is suing the BBC and South Yorkshire Police in the wake of coverage of a fivehour raid at his home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, in August 2014. The singer has been described in written submissions by his lawyers as having suffered “profound and longlasting” damage. The BBC has said it will “vigorously” defend the action.