CLAIMS public relations guru Max Clifford is a sexual predator are the stuff of fiction, his barrister has said.
Richard Horwell, QC, said any suggestion the publicist abused young women in the 1970s and 1980s would have spread "at the speed of electricity", as he delivered his closing speech at London's Southwark Crown Court.
Clifford, 71, is standing trial accused of 11 counts of indecent assault against seven girls and women - all of which he denies.
Mr Horwell said: "Men do not suddenly change from being caring gentlemen to sexual predatory monsters and then back again."
Mr Horwell told the jury Clifford had no previous convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings.
"How does that fit with the sexual predator the prosecution say he is?" he said.
"Would not this sexual predator have been caught out once or twice in his life?
"If a man has a perverted sexual drive, if he is a paedophile, because that is what is alleged, that tendency is going to be with him throughout his life."
Mr Horwell said character witnesses for Clifford had spoken of an honest man with integrity and who gave his time and energy to charity work.
"Not manufactured publicity in Hello! magazine but true care and understanding," he said.
"He was employed in the music industry in the early 1960s. If he found young girls attractive, if he was looking for young woman, isn't Top Of The Pops the place he would have been?"
Mr Horwell told the jury: "There is an enormous amount of pressure on the prosecution in this case. There is none on you.
"A careful assessment of the evidence can only result in one conclusion and that is Mr Clifford is not guilty on each of these counts."
Clifford, from Hersham in Surrey, listened from the dock with the aid of a hearing loop.
His daughter Louise, who has given evidence in the trial, sat in the public gallery.
The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article