Gambaccini in six-f igure payout bid for Met’s bungled abuse probe
PAUL Gambaccini has launched a six-figure compensation claim against police for allegedly breaching his human right to privacy during the bungled sex abuse inquiry against him.
The BBC Radio 2 presenter has issued court proceedings against Scotland Yard for ‘misuse of private information’ which led to him being identified following his 2013 arrest.
He says its public comments were ‘in breach of the Met Police’s own media guidelines’ and his legal right to a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’ under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The action centres on press statements issued after Mr Gambaccini’s
arrest as part of the Operation Yewtree inquiry, set up after the Jimmy Savile scandal. The Met did not name him as a suspect but referred to his age and his home’s location. This, it is claimed, contributed to him being identified.
The DJ was falsely accused of molesting two young men – whom he does not recall ever meeting – in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Details of his legal action can be revealed a year after he received a five-figure sum in damages and a full apology from the Crown Prosecution Service over the same botched sex abuse inquiry. As revealed by the Daily Mail in November 2018, the CPS had wrongly suggested his accusers had been underage when he was formally cleared of any wrongdoing. It also suggested there was ‘insufficient evidence’ in the case – whereas his lawyers insisted the claims should never have been taken seriously in the first place.
Despite this, police kept him on bail for a year before prosecutors announced in October 2014 that there would be no charges. By then, he had lost an estimated £200,000 in income and costs.
The Met is due to be served with High Court papers on Monday.
Mr Gambaccini told the Mail: ‘The CPS negotiated in a timely and efficient fashion, agreeing to an apology and a settlement. The Met did not. I have therefore been forced to take formal legal action.’
Last year, South Yorkshire Police apologised to his close friend Sir Cliff Richard after BBC broadcasts of a raid on his Berkshire home in 2014. He sued the force for breaching his privacy by disclosing he was under investigation for alleged sexual offences involving a minor.
Scotland Yard said: ‘The Met is aware of Mr Gambaccini’s intention to issue court proceedings against the Met, claiming misuse of private information, having received a letter of claim to that effect in February 2017.’