https://drive.google.com/file/d/16pTXGU-nMP7e91K1_yeknFmlJiSntERc/view?fbclid=IwAR1Q2gj40Tdq0qatEhCc1ZzBPYoRxIc0ZtvROuMvmA2_yH8dkMtCG7bU9bg
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
Former celebrity publicist Max Clifford has died in hospital after collapsing in prison, the Ministry of Justice has said.
The 74-year-old had a heart attack after collapsing twice at Littlehey Prison in Cambridgeshire, where he was serving an eight-year jail sentence for historical sex offences.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice confirmed Clifford died in hospital on 10 December.
https://news.sky.com/story/publicist-max-clifford-dies-in-hospital-after-collapsing-in-prison-11165070
13.173174227071492, -59.63691430375804
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1239043/Simon-Cowells-15m-nightmare-paradise-dream-Caribbean-hideaway-leave-hugely-pocket.html