BBC - Sir Cliff seeks damages at the top end of the scale

Paul Rees 08 May 2018

cliff2016 Lawyers representing Sir Cliff Richard, a singer long associated with the Algarve, claim their 77-year-old client well may have suffered lasting and permanent damage to his self-esteem as a result of the BBC news coverage of a police search at his Berkshire home in 2014.

At the hearing this Tuesday, Barrister Justin Rushbrooke QC, heading up Sir Cliff’s legal team, said the singer should get “very substantial damages.”

Mr Justice Mann has analysed the evidence and now is considering the barristers’ closing legal statements.

The singer is suing the BBC over coverage of the raid on his home by South Yorkshire Police officers and has indicated that he is seeking damages at the top end of the award scale.

Sir Cliff earlier told Mr Justice Mann that the TV coverage, involving the use of a helicopter, was a “very serious invasion” of his privacy. The singer was in his Algarve home when the raid took place and of which he had no prior knowledge – but the BBC did.

The BBC disputes all of Sir Cliff’s claims and states that its coverage of the search of his apartment in Sunningdale, Berkshire, was accurate and “in good faith.”

The singer was not charged with an offence. His case against the BBC continues.

Comments

0 #6 Darcy 2018-05-13 07:17

Daphne,
You are missing the point, but seems that you prefer to vilify Portugal rather than see that the this investigation was the fault of the British police and nothing whatsoever to do with Portugal.

+2 #5 Barron 2018-05-10 14:57

Sir Cliff is just the tip of the iceberg, South Yorkshire Police are the epitome of a corrupt, dysfunctional and incompetent police force, Hillsborough, Asian grooming gangs, CSE date fiddles, harassment and wrongful convictions of their own police officers, just look them up, the list is endless and despite numerous and ongoing changes at the top since they were exposed as congenital liars over Hillsborough they are still at it.
They are an enduring disgrace to the credibility of the U.K. police service.

-3 #4 Margaridaana 2018-05-09 15:00

Not a nice man! Let us hope any 'damages' he is awarded will go to a worthy cause.

-1 #3 Daphne 2018-05-09 11:13

When the Portuguese authorities originally began unravelling Ricky Salgado's Espirito Santo shennanigans there was a widespread sense, even referred to on their TV, that Portugal's Judiciary and Police were not yet able to prosecute such a weighty individual. That it would get too messy, pull in too many other heavyweights and make Portugal look silly.
Not many months later we saw on TV a Police raid, clearly filmed by pre-arrangement, on some BES properties and heard a highly telling comment, given the control the Portuguese Government censors have on Portugal's news: 'That English was spoken by some of those involved'.
Was this reference to a foreign language being spoken a not so subtle hint, that it was becoming safer for Portuguese whistle blowers about corruption, to come out of the shadows?

-5 #2 Chez 2018-05-09 10:27

Poor wine crop lasy year?

+1 #1 Peter Booker 2018-05-09 09:07

Is it really about his self esteem, or about his public image? The raid itself was a part of a legitimate police operation but the police have admitted that they should not have told the BBC about the raid before it took place.

Was it in the public interest for the BBC to broadcast the pictures of the raid? I think in this case the public interest was merely prurience, and the BBC has done itself no favours by acting like the Daily Mail.

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