Max Clifford trial: Guilty verdict for infamous PR guru who sexually abused teenagers over two decades

Max Clifford has been found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault in the most high-profile historical sex crime case to date under Scotland Yard’s Operation Yewtree investigation.

The jury of six men and four women deliberated over eight days either side of the Easter holidays before the 71-year-old publicist was finally convicted at Southwark Crown Court. His victims, all teenagers at the time of the assaults, described being manipulated into performing sex acts on him in return for TV or modelling roles.

Clifford was cleared of a further two counts of indecent assault, while the jury was unable to reach a verdict on another one. He will be sentenced at 2pm on Friday.

Emerging from the court on Monday, Clifford said that he had been advised by his lawyers not to say anything to the press, according to BBC News.

After failing to reach a unanimous verdict Judge Antony Leonard QC said he would accept a majority decision - where at least nine of them agreed. The time taken to reach a decision highlighted the complex nature of the six-week trial which heard allegations from seven women ranging from 1966 to 1984 when they were aged between 14 and 19 years old.

Clifford’s defence team had accused detectives from Operation Yewtree, set up two years ago after Jimmy Savile’s exposure as a prolific paedophile who abused hundreds of victims, of failing in “elementary police work” and that the trial had been “haunted by the spectre of Savile”. The Top of the Pops presenter died aged 84 in October 2011 after getting away with his crimes for at least half a century.

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