Disgraced Publicist Max Clifford Refuses To Apologise To Sexual Assault Victims

'Disappointed' Clifford Refuses To Apologise Over Sexual Assaults

Disgraced publicist Max Clifford said he was "incredibly disappointed" after a jury convicted him of sexual offences - but refused to apologise to his victims.

The 71-year-old, convicted of eight indecent assaults at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, told Channel 4 News: "Everybody knows the position and obviously I was incredibly disappointed with what's happened."

Max Clifford will be sentenced on Friday

Asked if he had taken the opportunity to apologise to "the women who accused you", Clifford simply said: "So, back to court on Friday."

Clifford, who was released on bail until his sentencing on Friday, was speaking outside his home in Hersham, Surrey. He has already been warned by judge Anthony Leonard QC that he may face jail.

Clifford had repeatedly denied all the claims, calling his arrest and prosecution "a nightmare" and branding his accusers "fantasists".

The court heard from a string of other women who testified about Clifford's behaviour, romping naked in his New Bond Street office.

Prosecutors portrayed him as a well-practised manipulator, who promised to boost his victims' careers and get them to meet celebrities in exchange for sexual favours.

He offered to get them casting appointments, pretending to be Hollywood bigwigs including Steven Spielberg and Michael Winner on the phone, and bizarrely bragged about having a tiny penis.

Victims included one girl who said Clifford abused her on a number of occasions after he met her family on holiday in Torremolinos in Spain in 1977 when she was 15.

The jury could not reach a verdict on a count involving a woman who claimed Clifford groped her in his car after meeting her at a Wimpy bar in Morden, south London in 1966.

He was cleared of another two allegations - one woman who said she was pushed up against a wall in his central London offices when he groped her and kissed her in 1975, and another who claimed she was groped in a taxi in 1978.

Clifford was arrested by detectives from Operation Yewtree in December 2012, and charged in April the following year.

The verdicts were taken in a hushed but packed courtroom, given by the forewoman of the jury on its eighth day of deliberations.

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