Images of Sir Cliff search ‘intrusive’

A BBC editor said he did not feel using a helicopter to film the search of the home of Sir Cliff Richard following a child sex assault allegation was “disproportionate”.

Gary Smith, who now works for BBC Scotland, accepted that images filmed from the helicopter were an “intrusion” into Sir Cliff ’s privacy.

But he said “there was a balance between the intrusion and the public interest,” he told the judge. “I’m saying there was a strong public interest in having pictures of what was happening inside.”