Disgraced PR guru Clifford dies after collapsing twice in prison
● Daughter of publicist, 74, said he had been ‘in a bad way’
Disgraced former celebrity publicist Max Clifford has died, aged 74, after collapsing in prison.
He was said to have been “in a bad way” after collapsing twice at Littlehey Prison in Cambridgeshire, where he was serving an eight-year sentence for historical sex offences.
His daughter Louise, 46, said that Clifford had first collapsed in his prison cell on Thursday when he was trying to clean it.
“It was just too much,” she said.
She said he collapsed again the next day and was unconscious for several minutes, and after seeing a nurse was transferred to a local hospital where he suffered a cardiac arrest on Friday.
Following this, she said he was in a critical care unit and described him as being in a “bad way”.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed Clifford died in hospital yesterday, adding: “As with all deaths in custody, there will be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.
“Our condolences are with Mr Clifford’s family at this difficult time.”
Clifford’s clients included television mogul Simon Cowell and former Harrods owner Mohamed al-fayed.
High-profile clients went to him because of his connections in the tabloid press – while journalists turned to Clifford to provide stories.
He was jailed for eight years in May 2014 after being convicted of a number of charges under Operation Yewtree, the Metropolitan Police investigation set up after the Jimmy Savile scandal. He was the first person to be convicted as part of the national investigation.
During his sentencing, he branded his accusers “fantasists”.
The PR guru, who used his celebrity connections to lure women, was found guilty of a string of indecent assaults – with the sex attacks carried out between 1977 and 1984.
In 2016 he was cleared of indecently assaulting a teenage girl, after being accused of using his power to humiliate the 17-year-old into performing a sex act on him in the 1980s.
Clifford, on the basis of fresh evidence, had been expected to appeal against all his convictions early next year.
The former mogul, who crafted a reputation for garnering maximum exposure for the fame-hungry wannabes in his charge, had been ill since suffering a heart attack in August.