The singer, Sir Cliff Richard, has instructed his lawyers to submit a formal complaint to South Yorkshire Police and the BBC over their roles in the police raid on his home counties luxury apartment.
Police were investigating historical sex allegations and in 2014 raided his penthouse in Berkshire to the accompaniment of a BBC film crew and reporter.
The 75-year-old pop star finally was informed by the Crown Prosecution Service on September 28, 2016 that he would not be facing criminal proceedings. This decision came after a formal review of the case triggered by two of the anonymous accusers.
Sir Cliff has never been arrested or charged with any offence and it is his contention that he suffered as a result of unjustifiable actions by the BBC and the police.
Of the BBC and the South Yorkshire Police force, "In the absence of satisfactory answers a court will determine whether or not their behaviour was justified and proportionate," said Sir Cliff.
"My life was effectively turned upside down and my reputation, worldwide, was unnecessarily damaged. I would not want the same to happen to others whether in the public eye or not."
In 2014, a parliamentary committee found that the BBC had acted "properly" and in 2015 an independent investigation concluded that the South Yorkshire Police should not have released highly confidential information to the BBC about the planned penthouse raid.
The Police force chief apologised "wholeheartedly for the additional anxiety caused" to Sir Cliff by the "initial handling of the media interest," with the BBC adamant that its decision to cover the police activity at the singer’s home was the right one.
BBC management did say sorry to Sir Cliff if he had "suffered distress" after its news coverage of the raid but said it "stands by the decision to report the investigation undertaken by the South Yorkshire Police and the search of his property."
Sir Cliff has made a statement on Facebook page which reads, "Whilst the police of course need to properly investigate allegations made to them, it is clear to me that questions need to be answered by both the police and the BBC about their initial handling of my matter, which has rightly been condemned from so many quarters, including the Home Affairs Select Committee, the broader press, and, even the police themselves.
"I chose not to comment during the active investigation for obvious reasons, but having suffered the experience that I have, I firmly believe that privacy should be respected and that police guidelines are there to be followed.
"That means that save in exceptional circumstances people should never be named unless and until they are charged. As everybody has accepted there were no such 'exceptional circumstances' in my case."
The BBC and South Yorkshire Police said they had “no comment” on the singer’s statement.
