Cliff Richard ‘thrilled’ after probe into ‘vile’ sex abuse claims is dropped

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Cliff Richard has said he is &&num;8220&semi;thrilled&&num;8221&semi; that he is to face no further action over &&num;8220&semi;vile accusations&&num;8221&semi; of historical sexual abuse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He spoke out after t he Crown Prosecution Service said there was &&num;8220&semi;insufficient evidence to prosecute&&num;8221&semi; and South Yorkshire Police said it &&num;8220&semi;apologised wholeheartedly&&num;8221&semi; for its &&num;8221&semi; initial handling of the media interest&&num;8221&semi; in its investigation<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a statement&comma; Cliff&comma; 75&comma; said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;I am obviously thrilled that the vile accusations and the resulting investigation have finally been brought to a close&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cliff said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;After almost two years under police investigation I learnt today that they have finally closed their enquiries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I have always maintained my innocence&comma; co-operated fully with the investigation&comma; and cannot understand why it has taken so long to get to this point&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Nevertheless&comma; I am obviously thrilled that the vile accusations and the resulting investigation have finally been brought to a close&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Ever since the highly-publicised and BBC-filmed raid on my home I have chosen not to speak publicly&period; Even though I was under pressure to &&num;8216&semi;speak out&&num;8217&semi;&comma; other than to state my innocence&comma; which was easy for me to do as I have never molested anyone in my life&comma; I chose to remain silent&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The initial raid by South Yorkshire Police detectives on Cliff&&num;8217&semi;s home in Berkshire in August 2014 was broadcast on live TV following a controversial agreement between the BBC and the force&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In its statement today&comma; the force said it &&num;8220&semi;apologised wholeheartedly for the additional anxiety caused by our initial handling of the media interest in this case&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It added&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Following an initial allegation received by the force in April 2014&comma; South Yorkshire detectives have explored and gathered all information available and carried out a thorough and detailed investigation&comma; which has covered the UK and abroad&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The investigation&comma; which has spanned two years&comma; is estimated to have cost in the region of £800&comma;000&comma; including staffing costs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;After careful consideration of the evidence provided to them&comma; the CPS has concluded that no further action should be taken against the man due to there being insufficient evidence to prosecute&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;A further five allegations considered by the investigation team did not meet the threshold for referral to CPS for a charging decision&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;South Yorkshire Police accept the decision of the CPS in this case and all those involved have been informed&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Martin Goldman&comma; Chief Crown Prosecutor for Yorkshire and Humberside&comma; said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;The CPS has carefully reviewed evidence relating to claims of non-recent sexual offences dating between 1958 and 1983 made by four men&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We have decided that there is insufficient evidence to prosecute&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This decision has been made in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and our guidance for prosecutors on cases of sexual offences&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The CPS worked with police during the investigation&period; This has helped minimise the time needed to reach a decision once we received the complete file of evidence on 10 May&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed0f80d3ef0">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; 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