Cliff tells of his ‘panic’ as BBC covered police raid on home
CLIFF Richard yesterday revealed the ‘panic and powerlessness’ he felt after the BBC aired live footage of police searching his home over a false sex assault claim.
The 77-year-old singer’s reputation was ‘left in shreds’ after he fell victim to the broadcaster’s ‘obsessive desire’ to break the story ahead of its rivals, the London High Court heard.
A reporter working on the story had even spoken of his delight at having police ‘over a barrel’ after being tipped-off about the probe, the court was told.
Richard is suing the BBC over its coverage of officers swooping on his penthouse apartment in Sunningdale, south-east England, in August 2014 following an allegation of sexual assault. He categorically denied the claim and was never charged.
However, the BBC learnt of the probe and led its 1pm TV bulletin with the story, accompanied by images shot from a helicopter.
Richard says he suffered ‘profound
Reputation ‘left in shreds’
and long-lasting damage’ as a result of the broadcast and wants ‘aggravated’ damages for what he claims was an egregious breach of his privacy.
His lawyer Justin Rushbrooke QC said the BBC was ‘playing with fire, but Richard was the one who got burned’.
Yesterday, Richard, dressed in a purple silk suit, sat in court with his close friend Gloria Hunniford and longtime companion John McElynn, a former priest.
South Yorkshire Police, whose officers undertook the raid and allowed the BBC confirm the story, have already apologised and will pay Richard ‘substantial’ damages of more than £400,000 (€460,000). But Mr Rushbrooke said the BBC should be made to pay damages at the ‘very top end of the scale’.
He said Richard is out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, because of PR and legal fees, a cancelled book deal and general career damage. The lawyer told the court in a written argument: ‘It is hard to encapsulate in words the sense of panic and powerlessness that must have been induced in him... when he realised the BBC were relaying instantaneously and indiscriminately around the world highly sensitive and damaging information concerning himself – all based upon an allegation of serious criminal conduct which he knew to be entirely false.’
Mr Rushbrooke added that internal BBC communications showed reporter Dan Johnson had bragged about having South Yorkshire Police ‘over a barrel’ and used his tip-off to ‘get what he wanted’ from the force and secure an exclusive.
The BBC says it had a right to report the raid in the public interest, and that, if successful, Richard’s challenge would hugely damage freedom of speech.
Gavin Millar QC, for the BBC, said that ‘no doubt the reporting had an impact’ on Richard, ‘but this has to be separated out from the distress he... would have experienced in any event’ due to the claim. He said any damage caused was the fault of South Yorkshire Police.
The search was made after a man claimed in 2013 that as a child he had been sexually assaulted by the singer at a 1985 Billy Graham event. Richard denied the allegation and in 2016 prosecutors said he would face no charges. He was never arrested.
The civil trial continues.