I have no view one way or another on the current news story regarding Sir Cliff Richard;- except that Sir C is reported as saying:-
"However, the police attended my apartment in Berkshire today without notice, except, it would appear, to the press."
That's a bit of a coincidence, bearing in mind the whole brouhaha about certain tabloids. Has some one been on the receiving end of a 'good drink', or am I too much of an old cynic?
They should fiund out who tipped off the press and give him/her 10 yrs no remission.
ReplyDeleteThe beeb just ran an article suggesting that it's actually perfectly legal for the police to do so. I quite agree that it's very distasteful.
Deletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28790718
Presumably the police will have needed to obtain a search warrant from a judge to do this?
Many reporters and a helicopter, presumably press.. Astonishing
ReplyDeleteHow would a member of the public go about asking for the name of the person who informed the media.
ReplyDeleteJohn Gibson
"The BBC understands it relates to an alleged sexual assault at a 1985 event where US preacher Billy Graham appeared at Bramall Lane, Sheffield."
ReplyDeleteIn other words, an unofficial tip off. What evidence could the police reasonably has expected to find at his home of an alleged sex offence thirty years ago and two hundred miles away? It seems to me that search warrants are too easy to get.
It ought to defy belief that the press are apparently still seeking such information and attending such searches, and that some police officers are apparently still willing to give out such information. My longstanding contempt for both groups is reinfoced.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know it was a police officer who tipped off the BBC? How do you know it wasn't somebody in the court which granted the search warrant?
DeleteWell I suppose the old 'sweep it under the carpet' approach has gone out of fashion for the time being. Keeping it quiet was never really an option and in any event 'shaking the bushes' has proved useful in the fairly recent cases. So I feel the police have played it by the shiny new book. Just a faint whiff of circus but overall - good.
ReplyDeleteA JP after 3 days of training can issue a warrant, incredible. But for a thoughtful and intelligent argument see:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-way-the-police-have-treated-cliff-richard-is-completely-unacceptable-9672367.html
There was clearly no need for a warrant and what possibly could there be that would be relevant to a case 25 years ago- this was a "fishing expedition" nothing more , nothing less and a big breach of civil liberty
ReplyDeleteHaven't you heard? Justice has been turned on its head for these cases. Identify a suspect and then go on a fishing expedition to see if a case can be built against them. The old days of acting arresting/searching homes only when there was some evidence are long gone.
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