Cliff Richard calls for BBC apology

Cliff Richard has called on the BBC to apologise for its treatment of him in relation to sex abuse allegations. The singer's home was raided by police in August 2014 and the entire operation was covered live on BBC News.

The 75 year-old pop star and former winner of the Eurovision Song Contest was at a property he owns in Portugal when he received a phone call informing him that police had secured a warrant to search his home in Berkshire, in England. Richard said he did not know what he had been accused of until he saw the coverage on BBC.
What emerged was that Richards was the subject of an investigation by South Yorkshire Police into claims of historical sex abuse. However, last week, the British Crown Prosecution Service announced that there was "insufficient evidence to prosecute."

Richard has always maintained that he is innocent on all counts. Now, in an interview with the Daily Mail he has stated that he felt he had been used as "live bait."

"That was my introduction to what they were doing and how it looked on the screen," he told the Mail. "It was really terrifying, really horrible, and of course that's when I discovered what I was supposedly accused of."
Richard called on the BBC to apologise for what he described as its "shameful" treatment of him. "No one should have to go through what I did," he stated.

For its part, BBC has defended its role in the investigation.

"We applied normal editorial judgements to a story that was covered widely by all media,” a spokesperson said, "and continued to report the investigation as it developed including the CPS's final decision – which ran prominently across our news output."

During the course of his ordeal, Cliff Richard collapsed in the kitchen of his house.

"I didn't know how I could face the future or face my friends or face my family,” he recalled. "I was in tears, I have to admit.

“Somebody,” he added, "got me to my feet and said: 'You've got to stand up, you are not guilty, hold your head up, you can do it'."

Richard also told the Mail that he is undergoing tests to determine whether he suffered any lasting damage from the horrific stress of the two-year investigation.