Cliff Richard hails ruling on sex charges as appeals by '˜victims' are dismissed

SIR Cliff Richard has said he is 'pleased' after a review concluded that decisions not to bring sex assault charges against him were correct.
Sir Cliff RichardSir Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard

The veteran singer was the subject of a long-running South Yorkshire Police investigation which centred on accusations made by four men and dating between 1958 and 1983.

In June the Crown Prosecution Service announced that no criminal charges were to be brought as a result of Operation Kaddie.

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Applications to review two of the charging decisions under the Victims’ Right to Review scheme were subsequently received.

The CPS said in a statement on Tuesday: “In accordance with the scheme, a CPS lawyer who was not involved in the original decision-making process has completed a full review of the evidence and has concluded that the decisions not to charge were correct.”

Following the announcement, Sir Cliff said: “As I have said previously, I’m innocent, so I’m obviously pleased with today’s CPS decision and the speed with which they reached it. I hope that it brings this matter to a close.”

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The 75-year-old was never arrested and in June the CPS announced that it had decided that no further action should be taken against Sir Cliff, saying there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute.

The singer later spoke of the devastating impact of the ordeal - describing how he feared he would die.

Officers were filmed searching Sir Cliff’s apartment in Berkshire in 2014, leading to him being publicly named as the subject of the probe.

The entertainer is suing the BBC and South Yorkshire Police over live coverage of the raid.