Sir cliff richard 'seeks £1. 5m more' from bbc in legal costs

The singer has already been paid £850,000 by the corporation to cover some of his lawyer's bills following his successful High Court claim for invasion of privacy. Sir Cliff, 78, also

received damages of £210,000 from the BBC on top of damages of £400,000 already paid to him by South Yorkshire Police after a news crew in a helicopter filmed his home being raided by

officers investigating a false sex crime allegation. But BBC sources have now confirmed Sir Cliff's lawyers had recently lodged a further costs submission. The claim of a shortfall in

legal fees received is revealed in accounts for Sir Cliff's company, Balladeer Ltd, which were signed off last week. They state: "The company has incurred legal costs in defending

the reputation of Sir Cliff Richard. "The final award in respect of costs in relation to this case has not yet been determined by the Court and so it is impractical to include an

estimate of this amount within these accounts." Both the BBC and Sir Cliff's lawyers are in contact and it is thought a final settlement is still some time off. "Its a very

protracted process," a source said. But sources on both sides confirm the amount at issue will be around £1.5million.The costs move comes after the pop star's legal victory in July

2018. Sir Cliff launched the case after the BBC filmed the police raid following an allegation that he had committed a sex offence in 1985. He was never arrested or charged and the case was

dropped. The judge called the BBC's actions a "very serious" invasion of privacy. BBC news chief Jonathan Munro gave evidence defending the news report but the corporation

settled more than £850,000 of Sir Cliff's costs within 14 days of the verdict. In court Sir Cliff had said: "I had no idea that heading into my 80th birthday I would have such

ginormous bills come through. It's a huge amount of money." He added: "I've had four terrible years and it was horrific. I would never wish that on my worst enemy. It was

tumultuous, horrific, emotionally draining, traumatic. Thank God for friends and thank God for God." He was in Portugal in 2014 when he heard police were raiding his Berkshire flat. He

said: "It was very intrusive. It's hard to explain to people what it feels like. I only went back to that apartment once, to collect my clothes. It was worse than being burgled.

It was just heartbreaking. There was no substance to it and that's what makes it so ugly.What the BBC did was unlawful. The only thing that anybody knew, and I knew, was that there had

been an accusation. "It was very unfair. I can understand someone saying, 'well we didn't know whether he was guilty or not'.Well if you don't know, you

shouldn't say anything."