Cliff Richard: Unnecessary Distress

A deal between the police and the BBC to film Cliff Richard’s house being raided has been slammed by a new report.

The previously unpublished investigation says the deal should never have been done.

Senior officials at South Yorkshire Police are branded incompetent and the BBC dishonest in its explanation of how it found out about the raid.

As police swooped on Sir Cliff’s £3.5million home in Berkshire last August over a sex assault allegation from 1985 images of the raid were beamed round the world from a camera filming from a helicopter.

Now a damning report by independent investigator and former chief constable Andy Trotter has concluded that police were wrong to confirm details of the investigation to the BBC.

The report also found Sir Cliff’s privacy had been breached by effectively confirming his identity as a suspect.

Mr Trotter says: “People have seen a search of Sir Cliff Richard’s apartment unfold on television with details of a serious allegation put into the public domain prior to him being interviewed by the police.

“The search and the nature of the allegation... certainly interfered with his privacy and may well have caused unnecessary distress.”

Sir Cliff, 74, has not been arrested or charged and has branded the historic allegations against him as “completely false” ...

Daily Mirror.

I know Beeb-bashing is a favourite pastime of certain newspapers, but this was a truly disgusting, shameful episode - fuelled in part by some 60 years of schoolboy sniggers about Sir Cliff's sexuality.

Gotcha?