Sir Cliff Richard has opened up about the mental toll false child sexual assault allegations had on him, leaving him fearing he would have a heart attack.
The singer, 81, strongly denied the claims and was never arrested or charged after his apartment in Berkshire was searched by police in 2014 after a complaint to the ’s Operation Yewtree, which was set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile Scan**l.
Sir Cliff was awarded compensation from the South Yorkshire Police and the BBC over the coverage of the case, for which he was never charged.
He has now spoken out to urge people to back the campaign to change the law so suspects have anonymity unless they are charged, explaining that being falsely accused could ‘completely destroy you’.
Sir Cliff admitted he feared he was ‘going to die of a heart attack’ in the wake of the accusation after sometimes waking up with his pulse racing, and will ‘forever’ be on the dark web as ‘the man accused of the dastardly deed’.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Wednesday, he also branded the internet a ‘disaster area for most people now’, adding: ‘You can’t trust anybody anymore.’
He explained: ‘I can’t express it strongly enough to know what it’s like to be an innocent man and also know that the person that accused you has anonymity in perpetuity.
‘I’m past that terrible time but will I ever get over it? The answer is no.’
The pressure group Falsely Accused Individuals for Reform (Fair) is campaigning to change legislation to ensure anonymity for the accused until they are proven guilty.
DJ Paul Gambaccini was arrested over assault claims in the wake of the Jimmy Savile Scan**l and spent a year on bail before the case was dropped.
He says he and Sir Cliff have become ‘a magnet for people who either are being wronged, or who feel they are being wronged or claim they are being wronged by false accusation’, adding that he believed the UK was the ‘most humane country in the world until the events of the last decade proved otherwise’.
Other stars in similar positions have also come forward in the hopes of changing the law after launching a petition in July 2019.
Then-justice secretary Robert Buckland came under fire a month later for saying there should be anonymity for suspects if they have a reputation to protect, forcing officials to insist this was not Government policy.
A report by Sir Richard Henriques on how the Metropolitan Police handled Operation Midland recommended later that year that suspects should have their anonymity protected by law and victims should be asked to sign confidentiality agreements in cases involving ‘prominent people’, however the force rejected the suggestion and campaigners warned of the dangerous effect it could have on victims coming forward.
