Justice says....

From Mr Justice Mann's judgement against the BBC in the privacy case brought by Sir Cliff Richard.

First, he takes the South Yorkshire Police view of how the information about the search was obtained by the BBC: "I have found that SYP did not merely volunteer the material for its own purposes; it provided it because of a concern that if it did not do so there would be a prior publication by the BBC, a concern known to and probably fostered by the BBC’s reporter, Mr Dan Johnson."

"So far as the main claim in this case is concerned, I find that Sir Cliff had privacy rights in respect of the police investigation and that the BBC infringed those rights without a legal justification. It did so in a serious way and also in a somewhat sensationalist way. I have rejected the BBC’s case that it was justified in reporting as it did under its rights to freedom of expression and freedom of the press."

Mr Justice Mann has awarded £190,000 to Sir Cliff in general damages, whilst rejecting most of the singer's claims for aggravated damages. "The exception is the claim arising out of the BBC’s nominating its story for an award at the Royal Television Society Awards as the “Scoop of the Year” (which, incidentally, it did not win). I have found that that merits aggravated damages which I have assessed at £20,000. Thus Sir Cliff recovers £210,000 by way of general damages."

And on the split of liability between the BBC and South Yorkshire Police, the BBC comes off worse, having to pay 65% of damages where the responsibility is shared.