Update | UK public relations guru Max Clifford convicted of sexual assaults
High-profile publicist whose clients included David Beckham convicted of a series of offences against girls as young as 15 dating back decades
Max Clifford, Britain's top public relations guru, was found guilty yesterday of a string of sexual assaults in the first conviction stemming from a police investigation launched after the Jimmy Savile scandal.
The publicist, known in Britain for handling high-profile celebrity scandals and representing television mogul Simon Cowell, was convicted of eight counts of indecent assault stemming from attacks on teenagers dating back more 40 years.
Clifford had called the accusations "utterly untrue, disgusting lies".
Prosecutors charged that he lured young girls into sex by offering them acting roles, including in the hit soap opera .
Peter Watt, director of a national child protection group, said Clifford had "rightly been unmasked as a ruthless and manipulative sex offender."
The millionaire publicist, whose clients during a five-decade career have included English soccer star David Beckham and US boxer Mohammed Ali, used his London office as his own "sexual fiefdom" and impersonated Hollywood icons to lure girls into his grasp, a court was told.
In one case, Clifford was found guilty of repeatedly abusing a 15-year-old girl after he made friends with her family in Spain in 1977. She said he convinced her parents he could make her a star before taking her out in his car and sexually abusing her.
