LONDON: The British Broadcasting Corporation has been accused of participating in a “witch-hunt” and behaving like the worst tabloid newspapers after using knowledge of an investigation into British singer Cliff Richard to leverage exclusive access to the raid on his property.

The corporation and the police investigation are coming under increasing pressure from politicians and public figures over their apparent collusion in broadcasting images of the raid on Richard’s 3.5 million pound home in Berkshire, south-east England, on Aug 14.

The search was part of an investigation into an alleged sexual assault on an underage boy at an evangelical rally in 1985.

The BBC filmed and broadcast the raid live from a helicopter above Richard’s residence before the officers arrived.

Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson questioned the legality of the warrant used and veteran talk-show host Michael Parkinson said the BBC’s actions “would have done the red tops [tabloid newspapers] credit”.

In a statement issued on Saturday, police admitted they had struck a deal with the broadcaster after a BBC reporter learned of their investigation into Richard and approached the force with the story, weeks before the raid.

In a bid to ensure the BBC did not jeopardise the investigation, the force said they had reluctantly given the broadcaster exclusive information in advance of the raid, enabling it to be shown live on TV.

“Contrary to media reports, this decision was not taken in order to maximise publicity, it was taken to preserve any potential evidence,” police said in the statement, adding that it was disappointed the BBC had been slow to acknowledge the force had not been the source of the original leak.

The force said it had sent a letter of complaint to the director general of the BBC, making it clear that the broadcaster “appears to have contravened its editorial guidelines”.

Richard, 73, who is on holiday in Portugal and denies all the allegations, was unaware of the raid until his lawyers saw the images on TV and got in touch with him.

Speaking to ITV News, Parkinson also condemned the BBC’s broadcast of the raid and said the manner of their reporting showed an error of judgement. “I think anybody not charged should not be named by the police and shouldn’t be reported in the newspapers either in my view.

The corporation said it had not yet received a letter of complaint from police.

By arrangement with The Guardian

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2014