Max Clifford was ‘ringmaster’ behind ‘legendary sex parties’

PR guru Max Clifford was the “ringmaster” behind a series of “legendary sex parties” attended by film, music and television producers, a jury was told yesterday.

Clifford is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of 11 counts of indecent assault against seven girls and women. He denies the charges and yesterday branded his accusers as "fantasists and opportunists".

Clifford talked about the sex parties as he answered the questions of the counsel for the prosecution, Rosina Cottage QC, the Independent reports.

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"No-one was doing anything to anyone that they didn't want to do. Everyone was old enough to know what they were doing,” he said.

"Sometimes when you are a star it's difficult to have the same kind of fun as other people. I was involved in organising good honest filth but that doesn't mean I had to stand there and take part. I was with my partner, I was quite happy with that.

"Sometimes there was sex, sometimes there wasn't. To call them sex parties obviously sells."

Clifford said women would ask to attend the parties. “They would ring up and they would say ‘Can I come, can I bring my sister, can I bring my mother, can I bring my aunt?’,” he said.

Rosina Cottage QC accused him of “grooming” women by promising them film roles in return for sex. Clifford said: "As I did not know them it is difficult to say I groomed them. I didn't have to groom people."

Asked why he had been the target of the accusations levelled against him, he said: “I don't know, because I don't know them.

"I know that what they are saying is untrue. I can only think it's because of an opportunity for compensation, an opportunity to make something out of this in the current climate.

"Possibly they are just fantasists, possibly because they don't like me, they see an opportunity - they would be the reasons. I know that what they are saying is totally untrue.”