Sir Cliff Richard doesn’t want to know name of sexual assault accuser: ‘He’s not real to me’

metro.co.uk:

supports HTML5 videoSir Cliff Richard says he does not want to know the identity of the person who accused him of a historical sex assault.In 2014, the singer was accused of having had sex with a 15-year-old boy at a rally in Sheffield in 1985.He was also accused by four men of sexual offences between the years of 1958 and 1983, which were brought to the Crown Prosecution Service but dropped due to ‘insufficient evidence’.

Sir Cliff was never arrested or charged in the investigation and always denied the claims.The 81-year-old has now appeared on Channel 4 documentary The Accused: National Treasures On Trial, which centred on Sir Cliff, Neil Fox and Paul Gambaccini who were each accused of sexual assaults but never charged.Speaking on the documentary, Sir Cliff admitted he felt a ‘deep hate’ for his accuser, recalling how he would lie in bed at night and the gravity of his situation would ‘crowd back’ at him.‘How could someone do this?’ he recalled thinking. ‘I am feeling hate, a violent hate towards [the accuser].

What would I do with him if I ever saw him?’Sir Cliff admitted he thought at the time: ‘I can’t live like this.’Years after it was announced by the CPS that there was ‘insufficient evidence ‘to charge him with a crime, Sir Cliff says he does not even know his accuser’s name – however this is by choice.‘My accuser is totally unknown,’ he said. ‘I don’t even know his name.‘They tried to tell me and I said “Please, I’m living a life now because he’s not real to me, I don’t have anyone to hate”.’What he admits he does hate, however, ‘is the idea that people can do this to another innocent human being’.