The celebrity publicist Max Clifford has been sentenced to eight years in jail for indecently assaulting four teenage girls.
Clifford is the first public figure to be jailed under Scotland Yard’s Operation Yewtree inquiry into sexual offences stretching back five decades.
The sentence, of which the 71-year-old is expected to serve half, seals the downfall of a man who had been instrumental in some of the most high-profile tabloid scoops of the last few decades.
The PR man stood in the glass-fronted dock as his sentence was passed down by the judge, Anthony Leonard. When he finished speaking, Clifford removed his hearing loop and turned and smiled at his supporters in the public gallery, some of whom were in tears, before he was led to the court cells and into custody.
On Monday, following a six-week trial, Clifford was found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault against women and girls as young as 15 between 1977 and 1985. He was found not guilty of two other charges of indecent assault.
The jury, which deliberated on its verdicts for 32 hours, could not decide on one further count, which the crown announced yesterday would be left to lie on the court file.
Classified as rape
The judge told Clifford that his offending was "not trivial but of a very serious nature" and some would be classified as rape under current laws.
He said the offences would carry a maximum term of 10 years if they had taken place under modern legislation and that he must take that into account in sentencing.
The judge accused Clifford of showing contempt for the victims with his “quite extraordinary” behaviour throughout the trial and that this was a further aggravating factor.
The severity of the sentence was a surprise to many in court, with Clifford’s tearful supporters standing frozen in shock as lawyers and journalists filed out of the packed courtroom. A number of victims and witnesses hugged each other and wept.
Director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders said afterwards: “The prosecution was built with evidence demonstrating a pattern of behaviour where unconnected victims told of strikingly similar experiences over a number of years. I would like to thank all the victims for coming forward and giving evidence in difficult circumstances.
“Research is clear that sexual offences are severely under-reported and I want to provide reassurance to any victim that the CPS will continue to make decisions based on the evidence and in accordance with the code for crown prosecutors.”
Clifford will automatically go on the sex offender register for life, which will mean that when he is released he will only be able to live at an approved address and will have to notify authorities of his movements, including travel abroad. Other restrictions could include compulsory sex offender treatment, a ban on contacting his victims or anyone under 18, a night-time curfew, notifying the authorities of any new relationship and a ban on using the internet.
DCI Michael Orchard, the senior investigating officer in the case, said: “Following today’s sentencing I would like to again thank all of the victims for their bravery in coming forward. Without their support we would not have secured these successful convictions and I commend them for their courage, strength and confidence in us that they would be listened to.”
Clifford’s imprisonment leaves an uncertain future for the PR agency, Max Clifford Associates, he founded in 1970 to represent a string of A-list clients in Fleet Street.
The X Factor's Simon Cowell, with whom Clifford has shared a warm and long friendship, was the first to desert the kiss-and-tell merchant after the guilty verdicts, followed quickly by a string of other high-profile clients, including the Dragons' Den judge Theo Paphitis and Channel 4's Bank of Dave star, Dave Fishwick.
Yesterday morning, Clifford had sat silently in the dock listening through a hearing loop as the packed courtroom was told how the trial had been “extremely terrifying” for his victims.
Ruined relationships
In a victim impact statement read out by the prosecutor, Rosina Cottage QC, one woman said her abuse at the hands of Clifford had ruined her relationship with her parents, who she felt she had deceived, and her husband.
She said seeing Clifford protest his innocence on television brought back feelings of intimidation and fear. Cottage said: “She was further upset and distressed to see Mr Clifford refusing to apologise to the victims after the guilty verdict on the court steps.”
Another woman said she did not sleep for three days after she was indecently assaulted. The abuse had ruined her fledgling showbusiness career, Cottage read. “She had amazing opportunities but couldn’t work in the industry because she was terrified what she would be exposed to.”
For a third woman, the abuse “took away her trust in other men. It was a skeleton in her closet she felt she couldn’t talk about.” Cottage said Clifford had aggravated his offending by abusing his power.
– (Guardian service)