BBC smeared me, says Sir Cliff
Singer breaks down after describing how his life was transformed when home raid footage was broadcast
SIR CLIFF RICHARD sobbed in court yesterday as he described how his name had been “smeared” all over the world by the BBC.
The singer could not contain his emotion as he blamed the corporation for destroying his reputation in a long list of countries. “Everywhere I have ever been, I felt my name was smeared,” he said. “Of course the police did not do this. The BBC did.”
Sir Cliff, 77, is suing the BBC over its coverage of a police search at his home in Sunningdale, Berks, in 2014, following a historical sex assault allegation.
He said he had been so “tortured” by the ordeal that he feared he would have a heart attack or a stroke.
SIR CLIFF RICHARD broke down in court yesterday as he blamed the BBC for the way his name had been “forever tainted”.
The 77-year-old singer was giving evidence in his legal action against the corporation for its coverage of the police search at his home following an alleged sex offence involving a minor.
He said that the BBC’S decision to identify him that day in August 2014 had turned his life upside down, portraying him as a “serious criminal”.
“I know I didn’t do it, he (the accuser) knows I didn’t do it, God knows I didn’t do it but unfortunately for me, it’s lasted a lot longer than I could have thought,” he said.
“It felt as though everything I had worked for during my life – trying to live as honestly and honourably as I could – was being torn apart. I felt forever tainted. I still do.”
Sir Cliff was on holiday with friends in Portugal when he was informed that police had a warrant to search his home in Sunningdale, Berks.
It left him “a bit shaken” as he had no idea why they were there. He then received a call telling him that a criminal allegation had been made against him dating back to 1985 involving a male who was under 16 and was later “horrified” to be told by a friend in the UK that the BBC was broadcasting footage of the police search.
He went to his hotel room and put on the TV news. “I could see the police going through the drawers in one of the rooms in my apartment,” he said.
“I felt confused, disturbed and very upset. It was like I was watching burglars in my apartment, going through my personal belongings.”
Sir Cliff told Mr Justice Mann, sitting at the High Court: “It changed everything for me, everything. It felt like my life had stopped. I found it really disturbing. It was obvious for moments, if not days, I was not seen as a human being. Everything I had lived for seemed to come to nothing.”
Sir Cliff, dressed in a navy suit, spent 90 minutes on the stand. Visibly nervous, he often struggled to hear the questions asked of him by Gavin Millar, the BBC’S barrister, at one point admitting: “Rock and roll has not been good for my ears.”
When Sir Cliff had finished his evidence, he stepped off the stand straight into the arms of Gloria Hunniford, the TV presenter and a close friend, and broke down in tears.
He revealed that the legal action had cost him more than £3.4million, “not counting the month of March”. “I had no idea that heading to my 80th birthday I would have such ginormous bills come through,” he told the court. “It’s a huge amount of money.”
He said he had found it “really painful” to read that the BBC had then criticised him for spending too much money on lawyers. “This was such a vile, serious allegation, I took it seriously,” he said. “I paid serious money for the most serious people I could find.”
Sir Cliff sobbed as he said he believed South Yorkshire Police were “just doing their job”. He said: “The BBC, doing what they did that day, did not just name me here… but everywhere I have ever been. I felt my name was smeared. Of course, the police did not do this. The BBC did. I do blame the BBC. The police have already apologised to me, they have been big enough and gentlemanly enough.”
Sir Cliff said he waited 22 months, between August 2014 and June 2016, before being told that prosecutors would take no further action.
“It felt like torture, sustained over a period of almost two years,” he said.
He said that since then, his annual official calendar had been “thrown back” at him and he had felt unable to attend Wimbledon for the first time in 20 years. If he wins the case, he will seek £278,261 for legal costs, £108,500 for PR fees and an undisclosed sum for the “substantial non-recoverable advance” agreed for My Life, My Way, his autobiography, due to have been published in 2015, but shelved.
He said that “of all the people that might have done this” to him, he would “never have dreamed that it would be the BBC”. He said that after the raid he had felt unable to return to his apartment as it felt “contaminated”, describing it as worse than a burglary.
The hearing, which began on Thursday, is due to last 10 days.
‘I could see the police going through the drawers. I felt confused, disturbed and very upset’