Max Clifford guilty of eight counts of sexual assault

PR guru Max Clifford has been found guilty of a string of indecent assaults on teenage girls in the first conviction under Operation Yewtree.

The 71-year-old celebrity publicist was convicted of eight indecent assaults and cleared of two at Southwark Crown Court today, with the jury unable to reach a verdict on one other count.

Clifford had repeatedly denied the claims, calling his arrest and prosecution “a nightmare” and branding his accusers “fantasists”.

The verdicts were taken in a hushed but packed courtroom, given by the forewoman of the jury on its eighth day of deliberations.

He was released on bail until his sentencing on Friday, but Judge Anthony Leonard QC warned him that he may face jail.

He said: “You must realise that the fact I have given you bail is no indication of what the final sentence will be.”

Prosecutors portrayed him as a well-practised manipulator, who promised to boost his victims’ careers and get them to meet celebrities in exchange for sexual favours.

Speaking outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Michael Orchard from Operation Yewtree said: ” I would like to thank the victims for their courage and strength in coming forward to speak to us. I hope they feel and know that they were listened to.

“While this was a high profile trial, officers work tirelessly to being offenders of sexual abuse to justice on a daily basis.”

Jenny Hopkins, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, said: “Today’s verdicts provide a long-denied justice to the victims of serious sexual offences. I would like to thank these victims for having had the courage to come forward and give evidence. The victims of sexual abuse, whenever it may have taken place, should know that police and prosecutors will listen.

“It is only right that we now take some time to consider our position on the hung count and we will update the court accordingly.”

Clifford spoke only briefly to waiting journalists as he left court, grim-facedly posing for pictures flanked by supporters, and ignoring reporters’ questions.

He told journalists: “I have been told by my lawyers not to say anything at all.”

Lawyer Liz Dux, who represents more than 150 people who have made complaints under Operation Yewtree, said the verdicts proved that the investigation is not a “witch-hunt”, while Denise Marshall, chief executive of Eaves, a charity which campaigns against violence against women and girls, said prosecutors are right to pursue historic sex cases.

Peter Watt, director of National Services at the NSPCC, said: “Max Clifford has rightly been unmasked as a ruthless and manipulative sex offender.”

One of the victims in the case, who had just turned 15 at the time of the assaults, said she was “relieved” that “justice had been done”.

“When I think of him he makes me shudder and he makes me feel ill,” she told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.

“He was an opportunist. He saw a vulnerable person and took advantage of somebody who was a child and it was awful. It was a nightmare and it had huge implications for me as a young person.

“To see him then go on to become very high profile, to speak openly about other paedophiles and damn them and create a persona of a respectable high profile man, who was lauded by the media, was sickening to say the least.”