Max Clifford ‘bullied, intimidated women’

Max Clifford leaves the Southwark Crown court in London yesterday after the first’s day hearing of his trial on charges of molesting seven teenagers between 1966 and 1984.

London Evening Standard/London

Publicist Max Clifford used his contacts with the stars to bully young women into sex, Southwark crown court was told yesterday.

Clifford acted as if he was “untouchable” because he was rich, famous and well known, the jury was told.

He “liked to play games” to take advantage of the girls and young women who had trusted him, worked for him or wanted to work in the world of celebrities.

Clifford, 70, is accused of 11 charges of indecent assault involving seven alleged victims over a 19-year period starting in 1966.

He has pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years imprisonment.

Opening the trial, prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC said: “Clifford used his contact with famous people to bully and manipulate young people into sexual acts with him.

“He breached the trust of parents he had encouraged to trust him and young women working for him or seeking jobs in the world in which he worked.

“He is wealthy, he is well connected. He is a man called upon by TV to speak about celebrity and media manipulation. He has been at the top of the media game for many years. He knows the strings to pull. He knows how to manipulate, lie and get what he wants.

“He is a man who likes to play games with people and he played games with these girls and young women.

“As the years went by and he got away with his behaviour he must have thought he was untouchable and no doubt thought no one would complain and if they did they would not be believed.”

But all this changed when the Jimmy Savile scandal broke, the court was told.

Clifford was “the maker of the kiss-and-tell celebrities and the breaker of reputations” and “had fun” at the expense of his victims, who were aged between 14 and 19 but are now all adults, the jury heard.

The victims were “vulnerable to the attentions of a man experienced in taking advantage of their naivety and their willingness to please,” said Cottage.

“His office was his own sexual fiefdom. He toyed with their inexperience and treated them with contempt.”

The court was told that once the women came forward their evidence was corroborated by other witnesses.

Clifford, of Hersham, Surrey, says he did not know any of the alleged victims and nothing that they claimed had happened, the court was told. He was arrested in December 2012. The case continues.