>Simon Cowell Breaks Back
Simon's shame
Last updated at 11:38 29 December 2004
As he relaxes this week at his £2,000-a-night hotel in Barbados, I doubt pop svengali Simon Cowell will spare much thought for Prisoner FF8782 in Maidstone prison in Kent.
But the prisoner - who is, in fact, disgraced pop impresario and convicted paedophile Jonathan King - and Cowell have a link that has remained secret… until now.
For Cowell - Mr Nasty on such talent shows as Pop Idol and The X Factor - put up £50,000 of his then friend's £150,000 bail after he was first arrested.
According to King, when Cowell heard he'd been arrested, he was the first person to offer to help
King says that he later called Cowell to see if he'd put up part of the bail money and the X Factor star replied that he "didn't need to ask".
The money kept King out of prison during the lead-up to his Old Bailey trial in 2001, when he was jailed for seven years for offences against boys aged 14 and 15 in the 1980s.
An embarrassed Cowell, who is at the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados with his girlfriend Terri Seymour, says: "I certainly regret what I did but at the time, I had no idea what he'd done, and it was before he was found guilty.
"I certainly wouldn't put up bail for him ever again and I have never seen him since."
There is, however, another twist in this tale because Cowell's generosity did not go down at all well with his spokesman and friend, PR guru Max Clifford.
Clifford famously despises King and was partly responsible for putting him behind bars after three of the pop impresario's victims came to him with their stories of abuse.
"I didn't know about the bail money at the time, but obviously it has come out in conversation with Simon since," says Clifford. I have set him straight about what kind of man King is.
"And I know better than anyone since I spoke at length to several of King's victims and I am proud to say I have a letter from Surrey police thanking me for my help in putting this evil paedophile behind bars."
Clifford had the letter framed and has hung it in his Bond Street office.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-332299/Simons-shame.html
Disgraced publicist Max Clifford was given wrongly-labelled medication at least twice in prison before he died, a report has found.
Clifford, 74, died two years ago while serving an eight-year sentence at Littlehey Prison in Cambridgeshire for historical sex offences.
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said inmates should be monitored more closely to ensure medicine was taken.
The prison's healthcare provider said it had implemented a plan to improve.
The report, written in November 2018, was published after an inquest into Clifford's death concluded he had died of natural causes.
On one occasion Clifford became dizzy after taking a mislabelled tablet four times the intended strength, the report said.
He told staff he realised their error because of the effects of taking the 8mg tablet of a heart medication that was labelled as 2mg.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-50874060