One of Max Clifford’s victims today said she is “overwhelmed” by his sex assault convictions because she thought he was “too powerful” to ever be found guilty.
The woman said the attack — when she was 17 — left her devastated and blaming herself for not fighting back.
The celebrity publicist is facing jail after an eight-week trial in which he was accused of 11 counts of indecent assault against seven teenagers. He was convicted of eight charges and cleared of two. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the final charge.
The women told Southwark crown court how the PR guru either indecently assaulted them or forced them to commit sex acts between 1966 and 1984.
The victim, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “I couldn’t believe the outcome because I thought he was too powerful to ever be found guilty.”
In court, Clifford, 71, who will be sentenced on Friday, accused the women of being “liars and fantasists” who were looking for compensation. He is now facing two years in prison, the maximum sentence for indecent assault at the time the offences were committed. The victim, who was attacked by Clifford in the Eighties, added: “I was devastated, confused and depressed. I blamed myself for 30 years for not fighting back but I could never have been prepared for what happened that day. I tried continually to forget about it, to put it behind me, but over the years I actually became more upset.”
She had contacted a newspaper about her ordeal but said: “When I rang the papers the man I spoke to asked me what I was ringing about and I said I was attacked by Max Clifford. His words were, ‘Let me stop you there, nobody will print anything about Max Clifford, he is untouchable.’ ”
Clifford, 71, has represented some of the biggest names in showbusiness including Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Muhammad Ali and Simon Cowell. Today a source close to Cowell confirmed he had dropped Clifford as a publicist.
Clifford is the first high-profile defendant to be convicted as a result of Scotland Yard’s Operation Yewtree, set up after the Jimmy Savile scandal.
