SOUTH Yorkshire Police have agreed to pay Sir Cliff Richard “substantial” damages after the singer sued following BBC reports naming him as a suspected sex offender, a High Court judge has been told.
A barrister heading the singer’s legal team gave detail of the terms of a settlement to Mr Justice Mann at a High Court hearing in London yesterday. Justin Rushbrooke QC did not say how much the force had agreed to pay.
Richard had sued South Yorkshire Police, and the BBC, over coverage of a raid at his apartment in Sunningdale, Berkshire, in August 2014.
He had alleged misuse of private information, infringement of his human right to respect for private life and a breach of data protection legislation.
Rushbrooke said Richard and the BBC remained in dispute but that South Yorkshire Police had agreed to pay “substantial damages” to compensate for “unlawful” conduct.
He said South Yorkshire Police should not have made disclosures about the investigation into Richard to the BBC and should not have co-operated with the BBC in the way that they did.
He added that police had indicated they co-operated with the BBC after a reporter said he was aware of an investigation into Richard, in a bid to protect the “integrity” of their inquiry.
However, their actions had facilitated BBC coverage which had been “shocking, humiliating and embarrassing” for Richard, and the singer’s reputation had been “forever tainted”, said Rushbrooke.
Barrister Adam Wolanski, who represented South Yorkshire Police, said force bosses accepted that Richard’s private information should not have gone to the BBC.
They acknowledged that the force’s conduct had been unlawful and offered “sincere apologies” for the “distress and humiliation” suffered, Wolanski told the judge.
Mr Justice Mann has heard that in late 2013 a man made an allegation to the Metropolitan Police, saying he had been sexually assaulted by Richard at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane football stadium when a child in 1985.
Metropolitan Police officers passed the allegation to South Yorkshire Police in July 2014.
Richard had denied the allegation and in June 2016 prosecutors announced he would face no charges. He then launched legal action.
South Yorkshire Police had already apologised ‘’wholeheartedly for the additional anxiety caused’’ by the force’s ‘’initial handling of the media interest’’ in its investigation into the singer.
BBC editors said they will “defend ourselves vigorously’’.
A spokeswoman said the BBC had reported Richard’s ‘’full denial of the allegations at every stage’’.
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