Police and prosecutors face calls to make it absolutely clear that Sir Cliff Richard is innocent after a lengthy child sex abuse investigation finally ended.
Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, and the Conservative former solicitor general Sir Edward Garnier both said that declaring there was “insufficient evidence” to lay charges was not enough.
Last week, Richard was cleared of allegations dating back to 1958, when he was aged 18, the latest in a long line of VIPs to be subjected to lengthy inquiries only for prosecutors to conclude that there will be no action.
Police has spent almost two years investigating and the Crown Prosecution Service took five weeks to decide there was “insufficient evidence” to press charges.
Vaz said, “South Yorkshire police have serious questions to answer on the process by which it has undertaken this investigation, the cost involved, the length of time it has taken and the disclosure of the identity of the person.
“Sir Cliff has suffered enormous and irreparable damage to his reputation because of the way South Yorkshire police have handled this case.
“The committee has always been troubled by the words ‘insufficient evidence’ which does not provide the closure needed when dealing with such serious allegations.”
Richard is still angry at the way in which he was “hung out like live bait” by police who named him before interviewing him. A raid on his home was also leaked to the BBC which filmed it from a helicopter. The star feels his reputation will never be fully vindicated.
Garnier compared the case to other very public sex inquiries into VIPs such as Lord Brittan, the former home secretary, and Lord Bramall who served as head of the armed forces.
“It has taken them a very long time to reach this conclusion, which in itself has caused Cliff Richard a great deal of distress” the Tory MP said.
“Simply to say there is insufficient evidence does not repair the damage. There is either evidence or there is not evidence. Why don’t the police and the CPS say so?”
See also, 'Sir Cliff Richard abuse case collapses'
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/9148-sir-cliff-richard-abuse-case-collapses
Sunday Times 19.06.2016
