The Power of the Paedos - another high profile case hits the 'never happened' wall?

[Jan Klimkowski]

Max Clifford - the Keeper of the Secrets.

He must be considering his options.

Max Clifford pleads not guilty to 11 indecent assault charges

Celebrity publicist denies allegations at Westminster magistrates court and says after hearing: 'This has been a nightmare'


Josh Halliday
The Guardian, Tuesday 28 May 2013 11.38 BST

Max Clifford has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault on seven alleged victims.

The celebrity publicist, who made his fortune shaping the reputations of some of Britain's biggest stars, spoke quietly but firmly as he denied the allegations read to him at Westminster magistrates court in London on Tuesday.

Clifford, 70, is charged with 11 indecent assaults, allegedly committed between 1966 and 1985 on girls and women aged between 15 and 19. He will appear at Southwark crown court on 12 June after his case was adjourned by the chief magistrate, the judge Howard Riddle. He must live and sleep at his home address in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, and have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 as part of his bail conditions.

Speaking after the short hearing, Clifford held his wife's hand and maintained that the allegations were "totally without foundation".

"All I know is nobody ever said anything about me at all before Jimmy Savile.

"This has been a nightmare for myself and my family and I'm totally innocent of these allegations. Since December I've been in the dark, and anonymous people have made accusations from a long, long time ago. They are without any foundation."

Clifford said he had been arrested "in a very public way" and, asked whether he believed he was the victim of a witch hunt, added: "That's for you to make your mind up."

Dressed in a blue blazer, grey trousers and a white open-necked shirt, Clifford looked tanned and healthy as he sat alone in the large glass-encased dock. His wife, Jo Westwood, sat in the public gallery alongside a number of journalists.

Clifford made no further comment as he walked through a packed media scrum outside the court building. One member of the public shouted allegations about other entertainers as Clifford and his wife were jostled into a waiting taxi.

Clifford was first arrested in December under Scotland Yard's Operation Yewtree investigation, launched in the wake of the Savile scandal.

A former EMI Records junior press officer, Clifford has acted as a powerful intermediary between the press and on-screen stars for more than five decades, working as an early publicist for the Beatles and introducing British audiences to celebrities such as Muhammad Ali and Frank Sinatra in the 1960s.

Clifford went on to manage the reputations of public faces including Simon Cowell, the Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy and the late Jade Goody, who found fame on the reality show Big Brother in 2002.

He has helped orchestrate some of the most memorable tabloid front pages in Fleet Street history, not least the infamous March 1986 "Freddie Starr ate my hamster" story in the Sun.