Sir Cliff’s fight to protect anonymity
SINGER Sir Cliff Richard and DJ
Paul Gambaccini have revived a campaign calling for suspects to have their anonymity protected by law unless they are charged.
Both men were falsely accused of historical sex offences and joined forces with pressure group Falsely Accused Individuals for Reform (Fair) to campaign for changes to legislation.
Three years ago the pair said they wanted to “redress the balance” in the legal system as they launched a petition to see those accused of sexual offences remain anonymous until charged, saying this was needed to “protect the reputations of all innocent suspects, whether well-known or not, from the lasting stigma of a false sexual allegation”.
The group said the petition received 27,000 signatures before it “had to be abandoned” when the general election was called.
Now they are pressing the Government to include an amendment in the next criminal justice bill because they believe the “law on privacy provides inadequate protection”.
At a press conference in the House of Lords yesterday, the pair were joined by former Tory MP Harvey Proctor and barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC to make their case.
The group want the amendment to make it an offence in England and Wales for someone to identify or publish information about another person being subject of an investigation “in respect of the alleged commission of a sexual offence” unless charged or if there is a court order permitting this.
Sir Cliff, 81, won his privacy case against the BBC over its coverage of a South Yorkshire Police raid on his home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, in August 2014, following a child sex assault allegation.
He said: “Every single one of us is innocent until proven guilty, so all we are asking is... that you are not named until you are charged.”