Sir Cliff’s £1million payout from cops
SIR Cliff Richard has won £1million damages from police after he was named as a child sex suspect.
The veteran singer, 76, sued the BBC and South Yorkshire Police over “humiliating” TV coverage at his home in Sunningdale, Berks, in August 2014.
While he is still in dispute with the BBC, he has settled with the force, the High Court heard.
His barrister Justin Rushbrooke QC said yesterday: “SYP has recognised that its conduct was unlawful and has agreed to pay the claimant a substantial sum by way of general and aggravated damages to compensate.”
Mr Rushbrooke told Mr Justice Mann the force should not have disclosed information about its investigation into claims Sir Cliff abused a boy during the 1980s.
And he said the force’s actions facilitated BBC coverage, which had been “shocking, humiliating and embarrassing” for Sir Cliff. Despite the investigation being dropped, his reputation has been “forever tainted”, he added. Adam Wolanski, acting for South Yorkshire Police, said: “SYP accepts that the claimant’s private information should not have been disclosed to the BBC.” Yesterday Mr Justice Mann ordered the BBC to reveal whether or not its original source for the story was from within the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Yewtree, as Sir Cliff ’s team has claimed. The broadcaster said after the hearing: “The police decision to settle the claim because of how they handled the investigation doesn’t change the fundamental principle that journalistic organisations should be able to report on the police and police investigations.”