Clifford ‘lunged at girl after promise of meeting stars’

PR guru Max Clifford “lunged” at a schoolgirl and groped her after promising he could arrange for her to meet celebrities, a court has heard.

The woman, who cannot be named, said she feared she was going to be raped when Clifford insisted on giving her a lift home after he met her at a Wimpy bar in south-west London, and then pinned her down in the passenger seat of his car.

Clifford is accused of indecently assaulting her in 1966 when she was 14 and he was in his early 20s, jurors at Southwark Crown Court were told. She said that, after offering her a lift home, he drove her to an alleyway near a sports field, saying he had something to show her. The court heard he produced a book of photographs of him with celebrities including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and she said she would like to meet the Walker Brothers.