CONGRATULATIONS!
BBC news chief quoted Cliff hit in email hailing police raid scoop
a SCoTS BBC boss used lyrics from a Sir Cliff Richard song to describe his excitement at a planned police raid on the star’s home, a court heard yesterday.
gary Smith, then the BBC’s UK news editor, sent the lyrics in an email to colleague Declan Wilson, who had told him Sir Cliff’s home was going to be raided following a historical allegation of child sex abuse.
The High Court in london yesterday heard mr Smith – who grew up in glasgow and attended the city’s Kelvinside academy – replied: ‘Congratulations, and jubilations, i want the world to know i’m happy as can be.’
The lyrics are from Sir Cliff’s 1968 no1 hit and eurovision entry Congratulations.
Justin Rushbrooke, QC, for Sir Cliff, yesterday questioned mr Wilson about the email, asking: ‘You were both pretty psyched about this, weren’t you?’ mr Wilson replied: ‘it was a massive story.’
mr Rushbrooke later asked mr Smith, who now works at BBC Scotland: ‘That [the email] reflects your excitement, doesn’t it?’ mr Smith replied: ‘i’m not sure the word excitement is quite right … i was pleased that one of our reporters had an important story.’
mr Wilson, then the BBC’s north of england bureau chief, also told the court that South Yorkshire Police had ‘joked’ in a briefing with Dan Johnson, the reporter who broke the story of the raid, that officers were considering arresting Sir Cliff at Wimbledon tennis tournament.
it comes after the court heard last week that mr Wilson joked in an email to mr Smith – a few weeks before the raid in august 2014 – that Sir Cliff would soon be playing Jailhouse Rock.
Yesterday the court also heard mr Wilson told mr Smith in an email that a South Yorkshire Police officer was willing to be interviewed the day before the raid and name Sir Cliff under embargo. mr Wilson told the court it was possible he missed out the word ‘not’ and meant to say police would ‘not name’ Sir Cliff.
mr Johnson had earlier denied ‘blackmailing’ South Yorkshire Police into giving him details of the raid in exchange for not breaking a story about the investigation.
The allegation against Sir Cliff was that he assaulted a teenage boy after a rally led by evangelical preacher Billy graham in Sheffield in the 1980s. He always denied the claim and was never arrested. in June 2016 prosecutors announced he would face no charges.
Sir Cliff’s lawyers are suing the BBC over coverage of the search of his flat in Sunningdale, Berkshire. The 77-year-old claims the footage, which involved a helicopter, was a ‘very serious invasion’ of his privacy and that his reputation has been ‘forever tainted’.
The BBC says its reports were accurate and in good faith. Yesterday mr Smith said he felt it was in the ‘public interest’ to report the allegations.
But mr Rushbrooke said its use of a helicopter was not in the public interest and it simply ‘wanted to run a sensational story’. mr Smith replied: ‘i don’t accept the word sensational.’
The case continues.