For Sir Cliff Richard, it should have been the happiest of days. It was a sunny morning in Portugal, where he owns a farm and a vineyard, and he was packing for a trip with his sister Joan and some friends to visit associates in the wine world elsewhere in the country. Lunch was planned.

Then came a call from his apartment block manager back home in the UK, alerting him to the fact that the police had a warrant to raid his home in Berkshire. Shocked and bewildered, he had no idea what it could be to do with. Why would he have? As a decent, law-abiding citizen, all he thought was that he must help the police with whatever they wanted.

‘I said to him: “Please let them in. I don’t want them smashing the door down because they have the right to do that.”’

Fighting back: Sir Cliff Richard today, with the pain he suffered over the past two years etched on his face

He continued packing, ‘but then the phone calls started. This story had broken and it was about this accusation. During the drive to lunch we got calls from various people, from the office, from my family, and they said: “This is what we’ve just seen on the television.”

‘By the time we got to my friends, we had a lunch of sorts, but none of us could eat. I was almost sick with it. It was the most terrible day.’ They stayed the night in a hotel, as planned, and it was here that Cliff watched his home being raided on TV after what he now describes as a ‘collusion’ between the BBC who filmed the raid and the police.

‘That was my introduction to what they were doing and how it looked on the screen. It was really terrifying, really horrible, and of course that’s when I discovered what I was supposedly accused of.’

It was a moment of utter devastation. Cliff was accused of one case of molestation. When the case was publicised, others came forward with similar outrageous allegations.

Today Cliff, 75, is firm as he relives the moment the ‘dark storm’ broke — when he watched his home being raided. ‘I didn’t vomit, but the greatest knot in the stomach arrived.

‘It was like a boulder. You know, you just have that: “God, what is happening to me?” And it’s a fear because it’s slightly the unknown.’

Cliff, along with the rest of us, watched the BBC news footage of police searching his home. ‘I couldn’t see what they were rummaging through because it was through the window into an office area and there were drawers with private things in.

Shock: Cliff describes how along with the rest of us, he watched the BBC news footage of police searching his home

‘So I didn’t know what they were doing. But it was seeing strangers in the house. It was like watching...

‘I mean could you imagine watching burglars rummaging around? So that was the first image we saw of it and it added to all the pressure of everything else. But yes, it was not a very nice experience. And it went on to get worse and ruined two years.

‘They weren’t stealing but they were taking my items without my permission. The thing about it is, the police don’t need permission.

‘If they’re investigating and they have a warrant, they can take what they feel is relevant. I still can’t figure out what’s relevant about postcards my mum sent me or a little private note from Princess Diana.’

Still in shock, the party headed back to Cliff’s Portugal villa first thing the next day to find that all hell had broken loose. The world’s Press were there. Cliff made his way into the safety of his house — where he would stay hidden for two weeks, ‘trapped’ he says.

Raid: Sir Cliff's luxury apartment in Berkshire was raided by South Yorkshire Police after they obtained a search warrant

Investigation: Police cars are seen driving away from Sir Cliff's home after the raid, which was broadcast live on the BBC

It was only the day after the raid that the enormity of the accusations against him hit home, and he simply lost the power to stand up straight.

‘That was the moment of my biggest despair. I just collapsed. I couldn’t imagine what depression was like, but I have an idea now. I felt as though I was in this hole and I had no means of getting out.

‘I didn’t know how I could face the future or face my friends or face my family. I was in tears, I have to admit.

MY EVIL ACCUSERS It is the question that haunts Cliff: what would motivate anyone to smear him with such vile allegations? ‘I can’t figure out, how did I get to this stage in my life and have these people, after 58 years, seemingly hate me so much that they would say these libellous, these horrible accusations. It’s evil. I have no idea what could have possibly caused this. ‘I thought of two ideas: he’s either crazy and he needs help or he did it for money . . . It’s a fantastic motivation for some people and I’ve no doubt that some of the people that came forward would have been after money.’ Advertisement

‘I was on my knees in tears in the kitchen. I was thinking: “How can I get out of this? How can I ever climb out of this hole.” Somebody got me to my feet and said: “You’ve got to stand up, you are not guilty, hold your head up, you can do it.” ’

Last week, Cliff was in tears again, this time for rather different reasons. He had just heard the news that no charges would be brought against him. After a two-year police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service had taken just a month to throw out all the allegations against him.

As flimsy as the ‘evidence’ was (‘There wasn’t any evidence. Not a single piece’), Cliff had feared that his Kafkaesque nightmare might end up with him behind bars. ‘I always knew I was innocent, but I always worried I would end up in prison. Or at least having to face a court.’

How did he react when he learned it was all over? ‘I sat on the edge of my bed and wept,’ he says, candidly. ‘I couldn’t help it with all the emotion pent up all that time.’

I have known Cliff for 40 years and today, as we meet at a Surrey hotel to talk about his two years of hell, I can see immediately how the strain and upset has lifted from his face.

And he says he’s actually forgiven his accuser. ‘He probably doesn’t even know I’ve forgiven him, but me forgiving him is not as good as God forgiving him. But only he can ask for that forgiveness.’

One of the biggest potential sex scandals of our age has now passed. His fans can breathe again. Except, as he points out, the law doesn’t erase memories. Nor does the language of the law reassure. ‘Because they don’t say “Chucked out — no evidence”, do they?’ he points out. ‘They say “insufficient evidence”, which to the reader, certainly to me, suggests maybe there is some evidence, but not enough. That’s ridiculous.’ This is Cliff’s first interview, his first full account of his 22-month nightmare, and it is explosive.

Frail: In the two years he was under suspicion, Sir Cliff says his health suffered, as he lost weight and was unable to sleep

His anger, hurt and sheer bewilderment — mostly towards the police and the BBC — is laid bare. He says he is considering suing both the BBC and South Yorkshire police for what they have put him through. He reels off every country in the world in which his name was sullied.

‘My name was smeared in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Spain, France, all over Europe, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, America, Australia, New Zealand.’

Today he also has the air of a man who cannot believe what has happened, or the absurdity of the claims against him. ‘Do you know I was supposed to have molested someone while I was on roller skates?’ he says.

‘Apparently, I roller-skated into a shop, then roller-skated out. Two hours later I returned — still on roller skates — and groped him again. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous? We fell about with laughter when we heard that.

‘Surely if it were true, he would only have had to push me in the chest and I would have fallen over?’

There was nothing funny about the strain it all has taken on his health, though. He lost weight — ‘and I could ill afford to lose weight’ — and reveals he kept a diary during parts of the past two years, of which one entry reads something like this:

‘I wake up in the mornings now and I feel I am disappearing. I look in the mirror and this other old geezer looks back at me.’

He manages a joke about having to ‘find a surgeon who could just nip and tuck!’ but actually his concern over what this has done to his health goes much deeper than that.

As we meet, he is trying to arrange a series of scans and a ‘full body examination’ because he knows ‘all this’ has weakened him physically. He reveals that at one point — amid the sleeplessness and the torment — he thought he was dying, falling victim to a heart attack or a stroke.

‘I was actually due to be playing tennis the day after the break-in. I play with a pro. I went ahead, but I could hardly lift my arm up. I was told “Just take it gently”, but I couldn’t do that either.

‘I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. I thought I was going to die. I told my coach what had been happening and he said: “Your brain is just not working right and it’s affecting your body.” The stress is physical, not just mental.’

Months later, after the second session of questioning by South Yorkshire police, he had another terrifying episode, which again he links to the stress he was under.

‘I’d bid for, and won, a week at a chateau in France at a charity auction and I went there with some friends, including Gloria Hunniford. On the first day I fell on some stone steps. My teeth went though my lower lip. I had to have eight stitches at the front, 12 on the inside.

‘My hands were in my pockets and I couldn’t get them out in time, so I knew it was serious. I remember watching the blood pour. I think it was to do with the stress, I don’t think I would fall over normally. After this I got shingles, too. I remember my doctor saying: “Stress is a major factor.” ’

Shingles — linked to the chickenpox virus — is recognised by the NHS as one of the most painful conditions anyone can suffer.

Holiday home: Sir Cliff, pictured with Daniel O'Donnell and wife Majell, was in Portugal when he first found out about the allegations

Yet even worse than the physical manifestations of being pushed to the edge were the mental ones.

Cliff says he has not slept properly since the raid. The first few nights he got through on sleeping tablets, but he was scared of becoming addicted, so stopped taking them. But his nights have been plagued. Even the night before we meet, he was up at 4am mulling over what has happened, and how he can possibly recover.

‘I’d wake in the middle of the night and just keep going over it. I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in 22 months,’ he says. ‘I thought I was going crazy, because I found I was talking to myself. Whether I was in the shower or cleaning my teeth, I’m mumbling away in front of the mirror.

‘I phoned Paul Gambaccini [who himself faced lurid and unsubstantiated allegations] and said I’m in the bathroom and I’m talking to myself. He said: “What are you saying?” I told him it was like I was facing a judge or something. He said: “You’re not going crazy, think of it as a rehearsal.”’

MOMENT I LEARNED IT WAS ALL OVER For two years, Clff has been in limbo, fearing that by some miscarriage of justice he may even end up in jail. When he heard the CPS had finally reached a decision, he was in agony waiting to hear the verdict. ‘The last five minutes before I was given the news that the police inquiry was all over was one of the worst moments of it all. I knew my lawyer was going to call and he would have the result. 'And suddenly you are thinking. I don’t know whether its going to be good or bad. It won’t be indifferent. It will be one or the other. And so my heart was beating away. Then I got the news from my lawyer: “Good news everybody.” Just like that. After it was all over I sat on the bed and thought this is so fantastic. I wept. I couldn’t help it with all the emotion pent up all that time.’ Advertisement

Little wonder he feared for his sanity. For only now are the details of the accusations against him (‘accusations that were treated like evidence,’ he says bitterly) emerging, and how flimsy they were.

What a tawdry business from start to finish. One of his accusers turned out to be one of the country’s most dangerous sex offenders. Another is a man who previously tried to blackmail Cliff. His demands were not met and he was reported to the police.

The ‘roller skate guy’, as Cliff calls him, went on to become a religious minister. Lest anyone think that gives him credence as a witness, the ministry offers anyone a chance to ‘become ordained almost immediately’.

Cliff points out: ‘I understand you can be ordained by paying $27 online.’

He is furious that the backgrounds of these men were not further investigated before his name was dragged so unceremoniously through the mud. He still doesn’t understand their motivation, although he has tried hard.

‘Why would they hate me so much that they would do this to me? They must have known the minute they made the accusation what it was going to do to me. Because the police were going to investigate.

‘I can’t figure it out.

‘It’s not as if I had a vicious background. I’m Mr Goody Two-Shoes pop singer. So why did they do this? They are either sick and need help. Or they are being criminal and they want money. They are either deranged, or liars.’

When the whole thing first began, Cliff says he tried to to show Christian forgiveness. ‘I remember thinking perhaps this person maybe thought he’d get compensation. It was the only human reason I could think of.

‘I honestly don’t think I’ve ever met this person. I’m almost certain I have never met him. But my lawyers said when I was answering the police questions I should never say that I hadn’t met him, “because you might have”.

‘That’s true. Over the years I’ve met thousands of people. I’ve met grandparents backstage with their grandchildren. Maybe his mum brought him to a concert and we had a picture taken. I don’t know. I don’t think so, because we would have seen it.’

Cliff is exhausted and elated all at once, but you get the sense from him that this matter is far from over. He tells me his biggest relief in all of this was that his mother had not lived to see this dreadful chapter played out.

‘It would have killed her,’ he says.

On stage: Sir Cliff performing at a concert in Paris before his home was raided by police. He says his name was smeared in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Spain, France, all over Europe, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, America, Australia and New Zealand

There was a time where he feared this astonishing saga would kill his career, too, and the love felt for him by his fans.

His anger towards the police and the BBC is matched by his gratitude that the rest of the world appears to have stood beside him.

He has faced no hostility from the British public, he says, and it makes him well up, because he expected it.

‘I’ve walked through airports where I’ve seen a couple of guys walking up with tattoos on their arm and stuff, and I’m thinking: “Oh God. If they think it is true they are going to smash me in the face.” Then they come up and go: “All right, mate! Good on you.”

‘I’ve never had a single person say anything, and that means the world to me.’ But as for putting this whole sorry chapter behind him, he says: ‘It will remain with me for a long, long time.

‘I don’t see how anything like this can ever go back into the memory bank and then be deleted. It can’t possibly happen. I can’t imagine ever forgetting what these people have done to me. It has damaged me in many, many ways.’

Police never treated me as innocent until proven guilty - it was disgusting

Fury: Sir Cliff says that police never treated him as innocent until proven guilty while being accused

Even now, despite all the hell he has been through, Cliff Richard accepts that no matter how implausible the accusation, the police have a duty to investigate when an allegation is made.

What he cannot accept, and cannot forgive, is that in his case, the most basic tenet of law — that an individual is innocent until proven guilty — was seemingly cast aside by the police in their hunger for a high-profile prosecution.

As he puts it: ‘They made me feel as if I was having to prove myself, rather than them trying to find that I was definitely guilty,’ he says of the ‘vile’ police interview process.

‘I was not accepted, I don’t think, as innocent. They assumed I was guilty. After the first interview I said to the officer: “You guys have got a difficult job because there is never any proof in these cases.” My lawyer told me: “The police treat accusations like evidence.” I was thinking: “I’m not an expert, but an accusation can never be evidence in my book.”

‘It can’t be, or I could say what I wanted about anyone.’

He talks us through the questioning process, conducted by a Detective Sergeant and an assistant at a police station in Sheffield. It was ‘frightening’ and ‘vile’ — especially when they read out the precise details of the sex crimes he was accused of committing. It was also at times laughable.

‘It was the sort of thing if I’d been up on a murder charge they would have asked: “Do you murder often?” and I’d be replying: “Only at weekends.” ’

He felt he was going mad at the sheer repetition. ‘It must have been so boring for them to listen to. Every single answer started: “I have never, ever molested a boy, a girl, a man or a woman. I never would. I never could. I never will.” ’

He is furious that the allegations against him were so full of holes. One of the main accusations, he reveals, was alleged to have taken place at a Billy Graham rally which was said to have taken place in 1983.

‘The accuser got everything wrong. He got the year wrong. That rally wasn’t until 1985. It [the attack] was supposed to have happened in a room that hadn’t even been built then.’

He says South Yorkshire Police should have ‘dumped that there and then’. Even when they continued to pursue it, several officers who had volunteered their services for security on the night in question came forward, offering to speak up for Cliff.

‘These policeman phoned South Yorkshire Police and said they would like to make statements because they were there. And they didn’t even get an answer. They were ignored. The initiative was not from us, we didn’t even know they existed.

HOW COULD THE BBC DO THIS TO ME BY FILMING THE RAID ON MY HOME? Unforgivable: Tipped off by the police, the BBC report on the raid outside Sir Cliff's home in Berkshire Of all the injustices he’s faced over the past two years, the one that leaves Cliff boiling with rage is the way the BBC treated him —filming the initial police raid on his house and broadcasting it live to the world. ‘I would never have dreamed it would do this to me,’ he says. ‘It would never have even crossed my mind. To me the BBC would absolutely stay by the rules.’ He blames a new wave of management. ‘The new generation have come in, in all fields now, and they seem to have that lack of respect of what’s happened before . . . A whole new group of people. They don’t care what we’ve done in the past. ‘For me, the BBC is Paul Gambaccini, Gloria [Hunniford] when she worked for them, all the DJs that I’ve met, all the people who work on the Today programme, World At One. That’s the BBC. They are not to blame for what happened to me. It’s the people at the top. ‘Somebody at the top said: “Good idea. Let’s get this story.” And somehow they were able to get the police to tell them when they were coming. ‘It shouldn’t do that. I’m sure that was probably against the law. I always thought a police raid was supposed to be secret. ‘Nobody should know. And yet the BBC were there. So they have a lot to answer for and that was real intrusion into my privacy. To actually film my apartment, it’s unforgivable.’ He is actively considering suing the Corporation, though a final decision is yet to be made. ‘We’re talking about it with the lawyers and at the appropriate time we’ll have made a decision definitely. I do feel that they owe me something.’ Advertisement

‘They phoned the lawyers independently and said they would like to make a statement saying they were there, on guard, and they didn’t think it was possible for Cliff to have gone away and done this.’

His despair is palpable. Does he think he fell victim to what has been described as the ‘moral panic’ following the Jimmy Savile case?

It seems so, and he’s horrified.

‘People knew what Savile was doing. South Yorkshire Police were aware of his activity. There was always this wink wink, nudge nudge.

‘Without mentioning any names, there are people we know who may have slightly dubious backgrounds, and I haven’t had that. Have you ever heard anything of that nature about me? No! No one has.’

As he said after being cleared, he believes he was hung out as ‘live bait’ for other accusers to come forward, no matter how improbable or unreliable they may be.

‘By using my name like that, they were putting me up there in a way, just saying: “Come on!” ’

Regulation: Sir Cliff believes the law must be changed to protect the identity of those accused of sex crimes, as well as their victims, other than in exceptional circumstances

He compares it to the ‘disgusting’ way a senior policeman stood outside Ted Heath’s house, after similar historical allegations were made against him, and, as Cliff puts it, said: ‘“Make your accusations, we will believe you.”

‘Wait a minute, what do you mean: “We will believe you?” So I come back to the fact there is something rotten at the grass roots.’

As it happens, Cliff had a niece who worked with the police and she was able to assure him that behind the scenes there was widespread disquiet at the way he had been treated.

‘She was one of the first people who called me when the story broke and said: “The divisions that I’m working with are all up in arms about the way they treated you. They cannot believe it”. So I know they’re not all like that.

‘Somebody’s got to take back control. And South Yorkshire Police seem to be the ones who are mostly getting slammed for being not only inept, but corrupt’’.

WE MUST CHANGE THE LAW Cliff, of course, is not the first celebrity to have had their reputation unjustly dragged through the mud — being named and shamed in public even before a decision on any prosecution has been made. He now plans to campaign for a change in the law. ‘If we can change a little factor like making sure people like me, Paul [Gambaccini], Jimmy Tarbuck and everyone else don’t get named unless charged, that would make all that I’ve been through almost worthwhile. ‘Almost, not completely, but almost worthwhile going through all this cr*p if it saves someone else going through the same thing.’ Advertisement

He is particularly exercised by the behaviour of the interviewing team at his second voluntary interview in November last year.

‘I never had the feeling that they thought I was innocent unless proven guilty. They made me feel as though I was having to prove my innocence. Whereas they’re supposed to actually prove the guilt.

‘Even at the second interview, which was about the other handful of accusations, there was a time when I had to say to them: “Stop referring to these people as victims. They’re not victims, I’m the one who is being victimised here.”

‘I said: “I don’t understand how you can possibly do this on the strength of this guy [the accuser].” He [the interviewing officer] actually said, “If you’d met him, you’d understand.”

‘And I thought: “No I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t understand.” ’

Worse still, as Cliff calmly and confidently gave his answers, eager to get the process over with, a policeman came in and called a halt after six hours, meaning they would all have to return and resume the interview the next day.

‘I found that really strange and it was just typical of the way South Yorkshire Police seemed to like to work. It was a disgusting thing. They don’t seem to have any concern for us as human beings.

‘Where are the good old days where you could stop a policeman? My mum and dad used to say: “Ask a policeman.” Well would I now? No, I would not.’

He believes the law must be changed to protect the identity of those accused of sex crimes, as well as their victims, other than in exceptional circumstances.

He also suggests that ‘statute of limitations’ should be imposed, as it is in the States, when it comes to historic sex offences.

‘We will probably have to take that on board,’ he says, pointing out that it’s impossible to remember the minutiae of what happened 20 or 30 years ago. ‘People just can’t remember. I couldn’t remember how long I was in that stadium.’

Flashback: A young Sir Cliff pictured in 1963. He says that both the police and BBC have damaged him in a great way

Yet at least the police have held their hands up and said they got it wrong. Was Cliff happy with that apology? ‘It’s not enough, no, but I’m glad that they did it because I’ve always said, it’s human decency to apologise.’

Cliff is more furious with the BBC. ‘The police have apologised, but the BBC hasn’t, and it owes me that. What it did to me was shameful. No one should have to go through what I did.

‘My name was plastered everywhere before I was even questioned. When they broke into the apartment, I had no idea why. None at all. Later, they [the BBC] even boasted that the raid on my home was the news scoop of the year.

‘One of my advisers said: “We think you’re keeping a dignified silence.” I loved that phrase, so I thought: “They’re right. I’ll remain above everything and I’ll be dignified and I’ll say nothing.” I never said anything against the BBC.

‘Until now. Now is my time and I’ve started talking about it. But I was determined not to at the time and I think it paid off. I think people were impressed I wasn’t coming out with fists fighting So I’m glad I did that. It helped me deal with it.’

Will he now sue? He refuses to say for sure, but yes, he is considering it. He feels he has a duty to stand up and say: ‘This is wrong.’ He says if the BBC are ‘quaking in their boots’ about what action he will take next, then so they should be.

‘They have a lot to answer for and that was a real invasion into my privacy. It’s unforgiveable. They raided the apartment before I knew what I was accused of, or checking on my welfare. And now I’m free.

‘They must be thinking I will sue them. Once, I would have been reluctant. It’s tempting to forget the whole thing, but people like myself are in a very privileged position to possibly change things so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

‘I don’t want heads to roll. That sounds a bit like ISIS. I don’t want revenge. I want to be able to say: “The BBC should never have done this.” Somebody has to teach them a lesson and if it’s done by suing, let’s do it. And the same with South Yorkshire Police. They have damaged me in a great way.’