Paul Gambaccini speaks out after being awarded payout over unfounded sex abuse claims

Paul Gambaccini has spoken of the ordeal he went through after being arrested under Operation Yewtree
Asher McShane3 November 2018

Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini has spoken of the ordeal he endured after he was arrested over false accusations of sexual abuse.

In November 2013, Mr Gambaccini was awoken at 4.38am by a team of eight Scotland Yard officers at his London flat who accused him of sexually abusing two underage boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

They were working for Operation Yewtree, set up in the wake of the revelations about paedophile Jimmy Savile.

The police eventually dropped his case due to "insufficient evidence." Mr Gambaccini has now been awarded a five-figure payout and full apology over the false claims made against him.

Mr Gambaccini always denied the claims, calling the case "completely fictitious". He spent a year on bail before the case was dropped.

Payout: Paul Gambaccini
Getty Images

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mr Gambaccini told how his husband "saved his life" after the accusations were levelled at him.

He told the paper: "I was too angry to cry"

He added that organisations he had supported throughout his life like the Labour Party "ghosted" him.

He also lashed out at the BBC. "There was no greater defender of the BBC than me," he said, "but they never tried to make it up to me after I was cleared".

Dubbed the Professor of Pop, Gambaccini spoke after winning an undisclosed five-figure sum from prosecutors.

The former BBC Radio One presenter was arrested in October 2013 over a claim he sexually assaulted two teenage boys as part of Operation Yewtree, set up in the wake of the revelations about paedophile Jimmy Savile.

The 69-year-old, a regular fixture on the airwaves for decades, spent a year on bail before the case was dropped.

He told the Daily Mail: "I was too angry to cry. Anger management is the big challenge."

Speaking about his husband Christopher Sherwood, the New York native said: "He saved my life. I don't want to imagine what it would have been like not having a loving spouse through all of this."

Confidentiality clauses in the agreement mean the amount paid to the Pick of the Pops presenter cannot be disclosed, sources said.

He has previously described the episode as a celebrity "witch hunt", and has called for rape suspects to be given anonymity until charged.

He said in 2015: "The man on the street is known to the people he has met in his life. The celebrity is known to the people he has met in his life, plus millions of others.

"So when you invite the public to accuse a celebrity, you have a pool of people who include not only possibly people who have been abused, but many people to whom a celebrity may have satisfied an emotional need throughout the years even without knowing it. And this is precisely what has happened."

He said he "wasn't surprised" to be accused, as he had previously spoken publicly about Jimmy Savile's crimes and was once pictured alongside him on a newspaper front page, creating an association in the public's mind.

A CPS spokeswoman said: "We have reached an agreement without admission of liability".

Additional reporting by PA

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