CLIFF RICHARD POLICE OUT OF CONTROL.

We are in the middle of a period of hysteria about supposed paedophiles and other sexual predators. Hot on the heels of the revelations about the egregious Jimmy Savile, we've had a rash of arrests, charges and trials; some of these have resulted in high-profile convictions, others in acquittals. Regardless of the outcomes, the police and Crown Prosecution Service have insisted that they've acted in the public interest; regardless of the outcomes, the prosecuted have suffered huge media exposure and, in the case of those acquitted, enormous and everlasting damage to their reputations and careers.

Last week, the hysteria reached new heights with the police search of a property in Sunningdale, Berkshire, owned by Cliff Richard. After receiving a complaint from an unnamed man who claimed to have been the victim of an assault in the 1980s, the police not only searched Richard's property but also made sure that the media knew it was happening. Worse, according to the accused, no one bothered to tell him the search was going to occur. Today, the same police have accused the BBC of being in the wrong by acting on what they've now termed a 'leak'. Talk about the 'pot calling the kettle black' !

I don't particularly like Richard, but I'll defend his right to proper justice until the end of time. That his name is splashed across the media while his accuser remains anonymous is utterly wrong; that he was not told about the search equally so. That the BBC and other media appear to have been informed in advance of the police action, specifically to see if it encouraged other accusers crawled out of the woodwork, is appalling. This was no more nor less than a 'fishing expedition' that has left the reputations of both the South Yorkshire Police and Sir Cliff Richard on the line.

Whether or not Richard committed the offence with which he has been accused is not the issue. What does matter is the manner in which the police have acted and the fact that the names of the accused in such cases are publicized widely while those of their accusers remain hidden. Hysteria is resulting in the police being out of control and the innocent being subjected to public condemnation, as in the case of landlord Christopher Jefferies in 2010. That shocking case should have led to lessons being learnt but, sadly, it appears not.

Whoever 'leaked' the Cliff Richard story to the media needs to be sacked, be it some lowly clerk or the Chief Constable and our country needs to come to its senses or there will no longer be any justice for anyone.