BBC agrees to pay Sir Cliff Richard £850,000 in costs on top of his £210,000 in damages

The BBC has agreed to pay the eye-watering £850,000 legal costs of Sir Cliff Richard’s high-profile privacy battle.

Last week a High Court judge ruled the corporation breached the 77-year-old’s right to privacy after broadcasting police searching his £3million home in Sunningdale, Berkshire. 

He was awarded £210,000 in damages – but the licence fee-funded BBC has now also agreed to pay £850,000 costs.

The police raid, which emerged after an exclusive tip off by officers and led to a TV helicopter being flown in, was part of a 2014 investigation into historical child sex allegations – but Sir Cliff was not arrested or charged.

The BBC says press freedom is under threat and will today ask Mr Justice Mann for permission to appeal his judgment.

An emotional Sir Cliff Richard after winning his case against the BBC last week but the corporation looks set to appeal

Police tipped off the BBC that they were raiding the Sunningdale property so the corporation was there waiting with its TV helicopter to film it

Police tipped off the BBC that they were raiding the Sunningdale property so the corporation was there waiting with its TV helicopter to film it

The BBC could be left with a bill of up to £5million after the case dragged on for so long.

How much will fighting the case cost the BBC? 

A judge will decide how much of Sir Cliff’s spiralling legal fees will be paid by the BBC after a hearing next Thursday.

It was previously claimed Sir Cliff was seeking more than £600,000 from the BBC – £250,000 in compensation, £278,000 legal costs and £108,000 for PR. 

Sir Cliff has previously claimed he spent £3.4million clearing his name. 

The BBC will also have hired its own barristers for the long-running High Court battle, racking up legal fees estimated to have run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

Sir Cliff has suggested that senior BBC executives deserved to lose their jobs for putting him through ‘the most horrible thing that’s ever taken place in my life’.

After winning a landmark court battle over the broadcaster’s coverage of a police raid on his home, the singer said a handful of BBC managers had acted as his ‘judge, jury and executioner’.

Sir Cliff wept with relief last Wednesday after a judge ruled that the BBC had seriously infringed his privacy with its ‘sensationalist’ reporting of a historic child sex claim against him.

The broadcaster named the 77-year-old star as the subject of a police investigation – which was dropped two years later without Sir Cliff ever facing arrest or charge – and used a helicopter to cover the search of his home.

The BBC is expected to appeal the privacy judgment, but could be left facing a bill of up to £5million for damages and legal costs, which would have to be publicly funded by licence fees.

Although the ruling sparked jubiliation among Sir Cliff’s supporters, it led to warnings from lawyers that it risked undermining journalists’ ability to report police investigations.

The BBC claimed it represented a ‘significant shift against Press freedom’, while experts suggested that it could enable criminal suspects to block disclosure of their arrests. 

Jonathan Munro head of BBC Newsgathering, Fran Unsworth, BBC Director, News and Current Affairs and Gary Smith, former BBC Home Editor arrive at court for a previous hearing and they now plan to appeal

Jonathan Munro head of BBC Newsgathering, Fran Unsworth, BBC Director, News and Current Affairs and Gary Smith, former BBC Home Editor arrive at court for a previous hearing and they now plan to appeal

After the ruling, jubilant fans gathered outside the courtroom and sang a version of Sir Cliff’s hit ‘Congratulations’ as the emotional singer walked out.

The case centred on a BBC News report in August 2014, which named Sir Cliff as being under investigation for an allegation of a sex assault in the 1980s.

Journalist Dan Johnson discovered the claim was being probed by South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and threatened to reveal the investigation unless he was given an exclusive tip-off about the planned raid on the star’s £3million home in Sunningdale, Berkshire.

Journalist Dan Johnson  (pictured) discovered the claim was being probed by South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and threatened to reveal the investigation unless he was given an exclusive tip-off

Journalist Dan Johnson  (pictured) discovered the claim was being probed by South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and threatened to reveal the investigation unless he was given an exclusive tip-off

BBC executives sanctioned the decision to name Sir Cliff, and to use a helicopter to capture aerial footage of the search, which was then broadcast as part of its news coverage.

In an emotional interview with ITV News last night, the star said the experience had been ‘the most horrible, disastrous thing that’s ever taken place in my life’.

He said he felt compelled to take legal action because the BBC had abused its position of trust and responsibility.

In an extraordinary attack on the broadcaster, the tearful star said: ‘What the BBC did was an abuse… They took it upon themselves to be the judge, jury and executioner.’

Asked if executives should lose their jobs, he replied: ‘They have to carry the can. I don’t know how they’re going to do it but they’ll have to. If heads roll then maybe it’s because it’s deserved.’

He added: ‘The BBC knew the police were not going to name me. It seemed to me there was a great deal of arrogance there in that they took no notice of the police, they obviously didn’t read again the Leveson report.’

The star revealed he had spent £4million pursuing the broadcaster through the courts over its coverage of a police raid on his home, but insisted it was his ‘greatest bit of charity work’.

He said he hoped the case would strike a blow for ‘armies of innocent people’. On the issue of naming of criminal suspects, he said: ‘I’d rather ten guilty people get away with it than one innocent person suffer.

Sir Cliff told how the stress of the experience had caused long-term health problems and said he feared his reputation had suffered a permanent ‘tarnish’ because of the worldwide publicity surrounding the allegation.

He has previously described how he collapsed when he first saw the television coverage and later feared the stress would trigger a heart attack or stroke.

He said he no longer blamed the police, as they had a duty to investigate serious allegations, but insisted the BBC must be held accountable.

Sir Cliff was visibly tearful after winning the case and was supported by best friend Gloria Hunniford throughout

Sir Cliff was visibly tearful after winning the case and was supported by best friend Gloria Hunniford throughout

Sir Cliff was visibly tearful after winning the case and was supported by best friend Gloria Hunniford throughout

The broadcaster’s director of news Fran Unsworth defended its coverage as in the public interest as it involved a high-profile celebrity who had been accused of a sex assault on a child, in the wake of sex scandals including former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile.

She said: ‘The judge has made clear that even if there had been no footage of the search and the story had less prominence, the very naming of Sir Cliff would have been unlawful.

‘This creates a significant shift against Press freedom. This means police investigations and searches of people’s homes could go unreported and unscrutinised.

‘It will put decision making about naming individuals in the hands of the police over the public’s right to know. We don’t believe this is compatible with liberty and Press freedoms.’

High Court judge Mr Justice Mann ruled there had been no legal justification for its breach of Sir Cliff’s privacy, saying: ‘The BBC went in for an invasion of Sir Cliff’s privacy rights in a big way.’

In a damning 120-page judgment he said public figures should not be considered ‘fair game’ and ruled the broadcaster’s coverage did not serve the public interest, because the public already knew about several sex abuse allegations against celebrities.

The judge said: ‘Knowing that Sir Cliff was under investigation might be of interest to the gossip-mongers, but it does not contribute materially to the genuine public interest in the existence of police investigations in this area.’

He said the report of the police investigation was accurate, but found that journalist Dan Johnson had effectively threatened police into cooperating with the BBC’s coverage.

South Yorkshire Police has already apologised to Sir Cliff for its role and agreed to pay £400,000 in damages, and a further £300,000 in legal costs.

Mr Justice Mann said the BBC report had a ‘profound’ effect of Sir Cliff’s dignity, status and reputation, and said the broadcaster would have to pay some of the police’s damages to Sir Cliff.

He said there was a ‘pressing social need’ for journalists to report on the activities of the police, and said the damages awarded in the case should not have a ‘chilling effect’ on Press freedom.

But Ian Murray, of the Society of Editors, said it had ‘worrying consequences’ for freedom of expression and the public’s right to know the actions of public authorities.

Lawyers warned journalists would ‘walk on eggshells’ when reporting police investigations in the future, and said the ruling could open the floodgates for more privacy claims. 

From mansion raid to High Court: Timeline of the case

March 2014: South Yorkshire Police (SYP) receive an allegation against Sir Cliff Richard from Operation Yewtree – a Metropolitan Police investigation into historical sex offences in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. The complainant alleges he was molested by Sir Cliff during an event led by US preacher Billy Graham at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane ground in the 1980s.

June 2014: BBC reporter Dan Johnson receives a tip from a confidential source about Sir Cliff being investigated by police. The tip leads him to believe South Yorkshire Police is the force involved in the investigation.

9 July 2014: Dan Johnson has a conversation over the phone with SYP’s head of communications Carrie Goodwin. Towards the end of the conversation, he asks her if Sir Cliff is ‘on their radar’.

15 July 2014: Dan Johnson meets at police headquarters with Carrie Goodwin and Superintendent Matthew Fenwick, who is leading the investigation into Sir Cliff.

13 August 2014: Dan Johnson is notified that police will carry out a search of Sir Cliff’s home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, the following day.

14 August 2014: Police officers carry out a search of the singer’s home. The BBC broadcasts from the scene, using a helicopter to obtain footage of the search being conducted in the penthouse apartment. Sir Cliff sees the footage from a hotel in Portugal where he is on holiday.

September 2014: Sir Cliff withdraws from a fundraising concert at Canterbury Cathedral which was due to be broadcast by the BBC.

June 2016: The Crown Prosecution Service announces its decision not to bring any charges against Sir Cliff.

July 2016: Sir Cliff instructs lawyers to seek damages from the BBC and South Yorkshire Police over their handling of the police raid.

May 2017: The singer accepts £400,000 damages from South Yorkshire Police. The force offers its ‘sincere apologies’ to Sir Cliff.

April/May 2017: Sir Cliff’s case against the BBC is heard by Mr Justice Mann in London.

 



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