Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Documentary charts fall of shamed ‘King of Spin’
DISGRACED Cotswolds PR guru Max Clifford is the subject of a major documentary next week in which viewers will hear tapes in which he admits to being a “ringmaster” at sex parties.
Once considered one of the most influential men in Britain, Clifford’s own public image was shown as a sham when he was found guilty of historic sex crimes against girls as young as 15.
Now the women who came forward in the wake of the Jimmy Savile case have spoken publicly about how difficult it was to prove the man known as ‘the King of Spin’ was nothing more than a ruthless and manipulative sex offender.
It’s only now, hearing first-hand testimony from his victims and the audio recordings we have of him, that we’re able to understand the depth of his lies PETER BEARD
Film-makers had access to more than 30 hours of previously unheard audio recordings of Clifford and testimony from victims to paint the true picture of a the public relations master who made himself out to be a happily married man who loved nothing more than spending time in the chocolate box village of Broadway and helping fallen stars such as Jade Goody.
Angela Levin provided documentary makers with more than 100 hours of previously underheard interviews with Clifford in which he brags of orgies with celebrities and young women where he acted as “ringmaster”.
Speaking publicly for the first time, some of Clifford’s victims tell how difficult it was to come forward to speak out about a man who was one of the first people convicted of sexually abusing young woman as a result of Operation Yewtree.
Peter Beard, executive producer of Story Films, said: “It’s only now, hearing first-hand testimony from his victims and the audio recordings we have of him, that we’re able to understand the depth of his secrets and lies.”
Clifford died at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, near Huntingdon in December 2017, three days after collapsing in the shower at Littlehey Prison, Cambridgeshire with a heart condition.
In 2014 a jury at Southwark Crown Court found him guilty of eight charges of indecent assault against four women and girls as young as 15 between 1977 and 1985. He was acquitted of two charges of indecent assault and the jury failed to reach a verdict on another charge.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The documentary, Max Clifford: The Fall of a Tabloid King, will be shown on Channel 4 at 9pm on Monday, March 1.
ENERGY provider Npower has pulled its mobile app following a cyber attack in which customer accounts were accessed using stolen login data.
The company, which is based in Swindon and one of the UK’s ‘big six’ suppliers, said it was unable to reveal how many customers it believes were affected.
In a statement, the business said it had immediately locked any accounts that may have been affected and had contacted customers to encourage them to change their passwords.
It said it had detected “suspicious cyber activity” that pointed to “credential stuffing”, where customer accounts are accessed using login data stolen from another website.
The FTSE 100 firm said: “We’ve contacted all affected customers to make them aware of the issue, encouraging them to change their passwords and advice on how to prevent unauthorised access to their online account.
“We immediately locked any online accounts that were potentially affected, blocked suspicious IP addresses and took down the Npower app. We also notified the Information Commissioner’s Office and Action Fraud.
“As part of Npower’s existing winddown plans, the mobile app was already due to be taken down. As part of this plan, we have contacted all active app users to let them know that they can continue to self-serve on npower.com.”