Sir Keir Starmer, who led the ‘witchhunt’ of celebrities accused of sex abuse, was named the ‘witchfinder general’ yesterday.
In the aftermath of the Jimmy Savile sex scandal, veteran DJ Paul Gambaccini referred to the Labour leader as “ground zero,” implying that he had pressed police officers to probe past complaints. The Radio 2 broadcaster said Sir Keir was the driving force behind a number of police enquiries into celebrities when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, speaking at the launch of a campaign for suspects’ anonymity. Sir Keir was the head of the Crown Prosecution Service when the Metropolitan Police initiated Operation Yewtree in 2012, which examined a number of innocent celebrities, including Gambaccini and comedian Jim Davidson, as well as those who were convicted, like Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter.
Gambaccini said, ‘Unfortunately he was witchfinder general, ground zero in the entire witchhunt [as] said to me by Michael Gove, when he was justice minister’. ‘We all wanted to know, who thought this was a good idea? Where did this madness come from and Michael Gove talked to the police heads and they said it came from Keir Starmer.’
Now, Gambaccini and Sir Cliff Richard, who was wrongfully accused of previous sex offenses, have banded together to demand that the law be changed. They want to make it illegal to publicize the name of anyone who has been arrested on suspicion of rape or sexual assault before they have been charged.
Yesterday, 81 years old Sir Cliff said that he thought he was going to die of a heart attack after he was accused of sexually abusing a boy decades ago. After one of the campaign’s backers, he appealed to female MPs for their cooperation, Lord Campbell-Savours said ‘very articulate women MPs’ were blocking a change in the law. Sir Cliff said, ‘If you could say to them do you really think I deserve to go through that? They would say no, I am sure’.
Yesterday, Gambaccini stated that accusers should not be referred to as “victims” unless their accusations were proven to be true.
The 73-year-old was apprehended in 2013 as part of Operation Yewtree in connection with false allegations that he sexually abused two adolescent boys. He was held on bond for a year before the case was finally dismissed.
Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor also spoke at the event yesterday, stated that Scotland Yard’s unsuccessful Operation Midland examination into claims by fantasist Carl Beech of a VIP pedophile ring costed him practically everything.
In 2019, the movement Falsely Accused Individuals for Reform (Fair) filed a petition that garnered 27,000 signatures. They are now urging the government to include an amendment in the upcoming criminal justice bill that would make it illegal in England and Wales to identify or publish information about someone accused of a sexual offense until they have been charged.
Victims’ groups, on the other hand, have worried that it may impede rape trials and free expression. They are concerned that it may impede police investigations since when arrests are made public, additional victims and witnesses may come forward.
Rape victims may potentially face charges if they used social media to inform friends and relatives that their perpetrator had been caught.
‘If it were introduced it would work as a serious impediment to the identification of serial sex offenders,’ said Harriet Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women’s Justice.