Max Clifford Convicted Of Eight Counts Of Sexual Assault

He is the first person to be convicted as a result of Operation Yewtree...

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by Sophie Wilkinson |
Published on

**Update: **Sky News have just uploaded this video – an outtake of their pre-recorded coverage of the trial – where Max Clifford, supposedly a PR 'guru' videobombs a journalist trying to report on the case. Mocking him, it seems to indicate a chilling insincerity with regards to the case.

Max Clifford, who once said there was 'no such thing as bad publicity,' has now got a whole load of terrible – and deserved – bad publicity as people rush to distance themselves from him after his conviction for eight counts of indecent assault. Last night, PR Week reported claims that Simon Cowell's Syco record label would no longer be working with Clifford and other members of Clifford's industry spoke out against him, with the head of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations calling it: 'A sad and shocking case with repercussions for many.'

Clifford is the first person to actually be convicted as part of Operation Yewtree, the sprawling investigation into the alleged (and now definite) abuses of power committed by British men in the public eye around the 1960s through to the the 1990s. The operation was triggered after hundreds of allegations of Jimmy Savile's abuse came to light in 2012.

Clifford's conviction comes at a very important time – last week, the Crown Prosection Service was put under pressure after Coronation Street's William Roache and Tory MP Nigel Evans were both recently acquitted, fuelling the arguments of those – wrongly – convinced that Yewtree is simply a 'witch hunt.'

Peter Watt of the NSPCC told* The Telegraph *that this conviction will lead to more people coming forward about their alleged abuses: 'These events that have taken place 20, 30 or 40 years ago are still very real for victims – the passage of time does not lessen the impact for them. The impact of abuse can last a lifetime.'

One of Clifford's victims, who remains anonymous as a legal requirement, told the BBC she is: 'so relieved and so pleased that justice has been done.'

'When I think of him he makes me shudder and he makes me feel ill – somebody who has reinvented his persona and has been able to reinvent himself behind a cloak of respectability and fooled everybody.'

She continued: 'He was an opportunist. He saw a vulnerable person and took advantage of someone who was a child and it was awful. It was a nightmare… to see him then become very high profile… was sickening to say the least.'

Clifford was found to have used his power and connections to lure girls as young as 12 into thinking they had a shot with fame if he abused them. In case you're wondering what his 'power and connections' entailed, Clifford is known for having masterminded some of the most memorable tabloid headlines over the past 30 years including Jade Goody's death from cervical cancer, and erm… claims that Freddie Starr ate a hamster.

Clifford's only comment on the conviction so far has been telling reporters outside London's Southwark Crown Court: 'I've been told by my lawyers to say nothing at all.' Out on conditional bail, he faces up to two years in prison, and will be sentenced on Friday (2 May).

Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson

Picture: Getty

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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