The Sunday Times reported today that there have been calls to declare Sir Cliff Richard totally innocent after the child abuse charges were dropped against him, In their usual fashion the CPS merely stated that "there was insufficient evidence to prosecute". This is not good enough.
Given the way the news of charges were broken to the public before he had even been questioned by the police when not only was his home raided but the BBC tipped off to film the whole event from a helicopter serious questions need to be raised about the way this investigation has been handled.
Having now seen the accusations in various papers you really do have to ask whether the police have gone from one extreme to the other following the quite real allegations against Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Stuart Hall.
One "victim" alleged that Cliff Richard "skated into a shop assaulted him and skated out again". Words fail me. Another accusation came from a man who was a serial rapist himself and a third could not match the details of where the supposed assault took place.
Yet the police took two years to "clear" this matter in which time the man has been put under the spotlight quite unfairly.
Yes the police did get things wrong about Savile and Harris amongst others but what has happened to Cliff is surely wrong.
There have been some innocents already caught up in this, Paul Gambaccini and Jimmy Tarbuck were cleared but left with damaged lives.
I've been a fan of Cliff Richard for many years and it is clear to me all that he ever sought to "hide" (and not very well) from the public is that he is gay. In this day and age the question of his sexuality should not matter to anyone.
The way these kind of cases are dealt with must be seriously reviewed. Child abuse is the worst crime anyone can be accused of. The guilty must be punished but the innocent should not suffer because of false or malicious claims.
Meanwhile here's a song for all his fans from one of the movies I remember well from my childhood. With the Shadows of course.
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