Sir Cliff Richard is glad he has finally been cleared of the sex abuse charges. Source: Good Morning Britain
The extent of the collusion between the BBC and the police to arrange for a raid on Sir Cliff Richard's home to be shown live on television has been revealed.
Messages obtained by Sir Cliff's lawyers and included in a High Court writ seen by the Sun newspaper show thecommunications between a BBC reporter and South Yorkshire Police ahead of the police operation in 2014.
Sir Cliff was investigated by the force over a historical accusation of sexual offences, but he was never arrested or charged and the case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service earlier this year on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Sir Cliff strongly denied all allegations.
He is now suing the BBC and South Yorkshire Police after the raid was filmed from a helicopter and shown on television, something the singer has described as "like watching my home being broken into - on television".
According to the court papers obtained by the newspaper, a press officer for South Yorkshire Police told a BBC reporter at the start of the raid: "Going in now, Dan".
The reporter, Dan Johnson, reportedly replied: "Give me a shout before they take anything out, so we can get the chopper in place for a shot".
In another message the paper claims he says, "Cheers - take it he's not home?"
Sir Cliff's legal action against the police and the BBC is believed to have cost him £1 million. He is said to be seeking "a significant proportion" of his costs, as well as at least £200,000 in "aggravated damages".
The document was filed at the High Court in London earlier this month.
Give me a shout before they take anything out, so we can get the chopper in place for a shot.
The papers reportedly claim Mr Johnson told police he "knew everything" about the investigation in order to get exclusive coverage of the raid for the BBC, and that the arrangement was "expressly approved" by the then Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, David Crompton.
The BBC and South Yorkshire Police are both contesting the claims.
A spokesman for the BBC said: "There's no new 'revelation' about correspondence between South Yorkshire Police and the BBC - it was considered by the Home Affairs select committee and reported by newspapers two years ago.
"We've said previously we are very sorry that Sir Cliff has suffered distress but we have a duty to report on matters of public interest and we stand by our journalism."
The Telegraph approached South Yorkshire Police for comment.
Sir Cliff, 76, last week told MPs and peers that he will "forever be tainted" by the false allegation of sexual abuse, which was made by a single complainant.
He has called for a change in the law to give suspects of sex crimes anonymity before they are charged.
He told a meeting at the House of Lords: "There are no words in my vocabulary that adequately describe the emotional trauma that I suffered in consequence of the South Yorkshire Police's and the BBC's decision to disclose and publicise my name and details of the police's investigation in such a sensationalist manner."
