Sir Cliff Richard has suffered “profound and lasting damage” as a result of a police raid on his home that was screened on the BBC, according to court papers filed by his lawyers.
The singer is suing the broadcaster and South Yorkshire police, claiming they struck a deal before the 2014 raid, and accusing the force of giving the BBC a “running commentary” of its actions on the day.
Richard also claims the BBC added “insult to injury” by entering its coverage for a journalism award of Scoop of the Year. He wants a “significant” portion of his total legal costs – put at more than £1m – to be paid by the force and the corporation and at least £200,000 in aggravated damages.
Details of the singer’s complaints have emerged in papers lodged by his lawyers at the high court in London ahead of his claim.
Lawyers for Richard say he has sold the apartment in Sunningdale, Berkshire, which was raided because he was too distressed to live somewhere that had been “so publicly violated”.
They say the publicity around the raid threw his creative and business plans “into disarray” – and forced him to delay the release of an album of rock‘n’roll classics.
According to the Sun, the papers claim that a press officer for South Yorkshire police, Lesley Card, texted the BBC’s crime reporter Dan Johnson to alert him to the raid, saying: “Going in now, Dan.”
Johnson is alleged to have replied: “Give me a shout before they take anything out, so we can get the chopper in place for a shot.”
The raid followed allegations of sexual abuse made against the singer by four men dating between 1958 and 1983, which he vehemently denied. The Crown Prosecution Service announced earlier this year that no charges would be brought as a result of the claims.
The 26-page claim, filed on 6 October , says that Johnson arranged a meeting at South Yorkshire police headquarters where he told the officer in charge of the case he “knew everything”, effectively “strong-arming” the force into giving the BBC access, according to the newspaper.
“The damage to the claimant has been profound and long-lasting,” the 26-page document says. “He had to endure nearly two years of living with the stigma of having been under investigation for an alleged historic sex offence, and the anxiety of knowing that this was a matter of public knowledge.”
The papers add: “The BBC has added insult to injury by adamantly refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing.” Lawyers said the BBC had “sought to defend its conduct” on a “manifestly unsustainable basis”. They said a “purported apology” had been “too little, too late”.
“In early 2015, the BBC added yet further insult to injury, and knowingly caused the claimant yet further distress and embarrassment, by submitting its broadcast coverage to the Royal Television Society’s Television Journalism annual awards, in the category of ‘Scoop of the Year’.”
BBC director general Tony Hall previously defended the coverage of the raid, adding that the home affairs select committee “reviewed our decisions and said we see nothing wrong in the BBC decision to run the story”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We’ve said previously we are very sorry that Sir Cliff has suffered distress but we have a duty to report on matters of public interest and we stand by our journalism.”
A South Yorkshire police spokesman said: “The force has apologised to Sir Cliff Richard for the distress and anxiety it caused him.
“The force has changed the way it deals with this type of media enquiry and has implemented the learning from this case and the subsequent review conducted by former chief constable Andy Trotter.”
