Paul Gambaccini blasts Keir Starmer over ‘witch hunt’ Operation Yewtree

Paul Gambaccini discusses Starmer's impact on Yewtree

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The police investigation into sexual abuse allegations in light of the Jimmy Savile revelations saw TV and radio star Paul, singer Cliff Richard and DJ Neil Fox implicated, but no charges have ever been made and the three strongly deny the claims. Talking about how the incident affected his life, Paul appeared on ITV’s This Morning on Wednesday. As he reflected on how the nightmare began, he hit out at Keir Starmer, who at the time was the director of public prosecutions.

Speaking to This Morning hosts Ruth Langsford and Rylan Clark, Paul recalled why his name was brought publicly into the investigation despite there being no evidence against him.

He explained: “Now Cliff was told, when he said to the South Yorkshire Police, ‘You have no evidence,’ they said, ‘The accusation is the evidence.’

Paul accused Starmer in his position of director of public prosecutions of having a philosophy of “believe the accuser”.

“But you’re still named, even though you haven’t been charged,” Ruth added.

“That’s right,” Paul replied. “So even though you have not been charged, the police could release the names through the ways that they did.

“And so I was never charged with anything because they couldn’t come up with anything I’d done.

“Indeed, when they raided our home, I was taken away, [and] Chris [Sherwood] was left to deal with them.”

He continued: “And the search warrant was legal but curious.

“The reason it was curious is because they weren’t looking for anything.”

In late 2013, it was reported that Paul had been arrested on suspicion of historic sex offences.

He was released on bail and through a spokesperson strongly denied the allegations made against him.

Almost a year later, it was announced no charges would be brought.

Paul has written about the experience in his book, Love, Paul Gambaccini: My Year Under Yewtree, which he published in 2015.

Paul sued the Metropolitan Police in 2017, referring to a loss of £200,000 while he missed out on work during the investigation period.

The following year, the Crown Prosecution Service agreed to pay him damages.

The amount paid was not disclosed to the public due to confidentiality clauses in the settlement.

Following the conversation on This Morning, Ruth went on to reveal that Keir Starmer had declined to comment when the show got in touch with his representatives.

Ten years on from the investigation, a Channel 4 documentary on Wednesday explores the impact of the three men.

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV, while The Accused: National Treasures on Trial airs on Wednesday at 9pm on Channel 4

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