Indecent assaults victims to sue Max Clifford

The 71-year-old was sentenced to eight years in prison earlier this month for eight assaults on four women between 1977 and 1984. Three women are now seeking legal action against Clifford, and solicitors claimed they expected more to follow.

One of the women said: “I was young and impressionable when I met Max Clifford and he used that to exploit me. It is right that he is held accountable for his actions.”

Clifford finally fell from grace after decades influencing the media when he became the first person to be successfully prosecuted under sex crime investigation Operation Yewtree. A number of his current and former high-profile clients moved to distance themselves from the veteran agent in the wake of the guilty verdicts and his subsequent jail term.

The women’s solicitor Richard Scorer said: “Clifford used his fame and public persona as a cloak to mask his sexual perversions. We are investigating all of Clifford’s assets, including those of his companies, Max Clifford Associates and Max Clifford Media. We represent three women who have approached us for advice and we fully expect others to follow. I urge all of his victims to seek legal advice with a view to redress under the law.”

A judge signalled an end to Clifford’s four-year marriage to wife Jo on Tuesday as the couple were granted a decree nisi in the Central Family Court in London. Neither was at the hearing – although each was represented by a lawyer. Divorce papers showed that Mrs Clifford had filed for divorce on the grounds of “unreasonable behaviour”.

She said Clifford’s behaviour had affected her health and had written: “I suffered from stress and had heart palpitations and saw a specialist.”

Mrs Clifford had signed the petition on August 14 2013. And she noted the date of the “final incident” she relied on as August 18 2012 – nearly four months before Clifford was arrested on suspicion of committing sex offences.