The police force which conducted the dramatic and televised search of Sir Cliff Richard’s home have been criticised by a committee of MPs.
They called the search “utterly inept” and said that South Yorkshire Police should apologise to Sir Cliff for the “enormous and irreparable damage” to his reputation.
The Home Affairs Select Committee did not let BBC off the hook either. The report called the BBC reporting “misleading”.
The search was mounted on August 14 at the singer’s home in Sunningdale, Berkshire. The BBC broadcast the event live from outside the building, including the use of a helicopter.
At the time, Sir Cliff, 74, was in the Algarve.
Police said they were investigating an allegation that Sir Cliff had sexually assaulted a young boy in 1985 at a Christian rally.
Sir Cliff has not been arrested or charged and has dismissed the allegations as “completely false”.
The report criticises the South Yorkshire Police for failing to contact senior BBC executives. The BBC director general now claims that had a senior executive been informed, it would not have run the story.
Instead, committee chairman Keith Vaz said the force handed over sensitive information to a journalist and gave him privileged access to the execution of a search warrant.
“No British citizen should have to watch their home being raided by the police live on television.”
Mr Vaz said: “Sir Cliff Richard has suffered enormous and irreparable damage to his reputation and he is owed an apology over the way matters were handled. We are not surprised that he wishes to sell his home.”
Although a leak of information is suspected from a police source to the BBC, no source has been identified.
A spokeswoman for the South Yorkshire force said it was cooperating with the Metropolitan Police investigation” to find the source. Scotland Yard said the Metropolitan Police Service has found no evidence.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The DPS have established that there are other people outside of policing who were also in possession of the information.”
