Sir Cliff joins calls for anonymity of people accused of sex crimes
Singer Sir Cliff Richard and DJ Paul Gambaccini called for a “re-balancing of the legal system” as they launched a petition to change the law so that those accused of sexual offences are anonymous until charged.
Both men were falsely accused of historical sex offences and have joined forces with pressure group Falsely Accused Individuals for Reform (Fair).
The petition attracted more than 5,000 signatures by the time it was officially launched at Westminster yesterday.
If support for the petition tops 10,000 signatures, it will get a government response, while 100,000 signatures will mean it is considered for debate in parliament.
Speaking to reporters at the launch event in Victoria Tower Gardens, Sir Cliff said: “We have both been through the mill. When you know you didn’t do it, you feel you’re in a hole you can’t get you of.”
He said he didn’t sleep properly for four years, came out in shingles all over his face and head, and felt like he had been “hung out to dry”.
He said “no smoke without fire” was a “stupid saying”, adding: “People can be evil enough to tell a lie about an innocent person.”
The petition declares anonymity is needed “to protect the reputations of all innocent suspects,whetherwell-known or not, from the lasting stigma of a false sexual allegation”.
Fair was founded by Daniel Janner QC, who also launched the petition. His father, the late Lord Janner of Braunstone QC, faced allegations of child sex abuse.
The family of the former Labour peer have always maintained his innocence.
Sir Cliff, 78, 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.
Sir Cliff denied the allegation.
He was never arrested, and in June 2016 prosecutors announced that he would face no charges. Sir Cliff said there were hundreds if not thousands of people who had been affected in the same way and had heard “heartbreaking stories” from people who had spent time in prison after being wrongly accused.
Mr Gambaccini was arrested in October 2013 over a claim that he sexually assaulted two teenage boys as part of Operation Yewtree, set up in the wake of the revelations about paedophile Jimmy Savile.
The 70-year-old, a regular fixture on the airwaves for decades, spent a year on bail before the case was dropped.