How one of Clif f ’s accusers tried to blackmail him first
ONE of Sir Cliff Richard’s child sex accusers was arrested over an alleged blackmail plot, it emerged yesterday.
The man, said to have ‘serious mental health problems’, contacted an aide of the pop legend demanding money not to spread false allegations about him.
But police were alerted to the scheme and detained the man for questioning.
According to reports the man, in his 40s, was then bailed with conditions banning him from contacting the singer or his PR team. But the alleged blackmailer then spoke to South Yorkshire Police, the force in charge of the bungled investigation into Sir Cliff, 75.
Detectives fell for his lies and included his allegations in the file sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. The other force later dropped the blackmail case, it was reported.
The revelation that police took seriously the claims of a man who had allegedly attempted to blackmail Sir Cliff will increase public unease over the case.
On Friday it emerged that another of the musician’s nine accusers is himself one of Britain’s most notorious sex offenders.
The man alleged Sir Cliff assaulted him at the notorious Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London, the subject of previous discredited claims of VIP child abuse. Detectives spent nearly two years investigating all the claims against Sir Cliff, but last week – after spending barely a month considering the police dossier – prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.
After the decision to close the inquiry was made public, Sir Cliff, who was never arrested, said he had been ‘hung out like live bait’.
Yesterday police and prosecutors faced calls to make his innocence absolutely clear.
Senior Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, and the Conservative former solicitor general Sir Edward Garnier both said that declaring there to be ‘insufficient evidence’ was not enough. Mr Vaz told The Sunday Times: ‘South Yorkshire Police have serious questions to answer on the process by which it has undertaken this investigation, the cost involved, the length of time it has taken and the disclosure of the identity of the person.
‘Sir Cliff Richard has suffered enormous and irreparable damage to his reputation because of the way South Yorkshire police have handled this case.’ Sir Edward said the inquiry had caused ‘a great deal of distress’, adding: ‘Simply to say there is insufficient evidence does not repair the damage. There is either evidence or there is not evidence. Why don’t the police and CPS say so?’
In the wake of the CPS announcement on Thursday, South Yorkshire Police apologised for the ‘anxiety caused by our initial handling of the media interest’ in the case.
The BBC was controversially tipped off about the August 2014 raid on the singer’s Berkshire home in advance, and was outside to broadcast it live from a helicopter.
Sir Cliff’s spokesman declined to comment on the blackmail allegations. South Yorkshire Police did not respond to request for comment.