Disgraced PR guru

Born: April 6, 1943;

Died: December 10, 2017

MAX Clifford, who has died aged 74 after collapsing in prison, was a publicist and PR advisor who earned a reputation for his skill at attracting (or avoiding if necessary) publicity for his famous, or infamous, clients. At the time of his death, he was serving an eight-year sentence for historical sex offences - an ignominious end to a career of ducking and diving with his extensive Fleet Street contacts. He was, in his own words, a poacher and gamekeeper at the same time.

At one time, Clifford's client list included some impressive names. He helped launch the career of The Beatles, for instance, by sending press releases about their debut single Love Me Do when record company bosses were ambivalent about the band. He also counted Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra and Chelsea Football Club as clients at the height of his career.

Perhaps the most famous incident in his career was the tabloid front page headline which read "Freddie Starr ate my hamster". It was a story which the publicist had generated but which he later admitted was a complete fallacy.

Born on April 6 1943 in Surrey, the youngest of four children, Clifford said he grew up in relative poverty, his father being a milkman and a gambler, while his mother took in lodgers for extra cash.

He left school at 15 with no qualifications and trained as a journalist after he was sacked from his first job as a shop assistant in a department store. He then went on to work for EMI in 1962 before branching out on his own and setting up Max Clifford Associates in 1970.

In later years, his extensive contacts in Fleet Street meant he was increasingly turned to as a commentator on matters involving the media. When aged celebrities began being arrested on suspicion of sex crimes, Clifford took to the radio claiming that former household names were frightened to death of falling under suspicion before Clifford himself was implicated.

He was jailed for eight years in May 2014 after being convicted of a number of historical sex offences carried out between 1977 and 1984. He claimed he was wrongfully convicted and said he was an easy target for financially motivated fantasists. Two years later, he successfully defended a historic accusation of indecent assault on a teenage girl in 2016.

Defence counsel Sarah Forshaw QC warned jurors of Clifford's short attention span, and of likely memory lapses owing to her client's age and the time which had elapsed between the alleged incident and the court appearance.

His power of recall showed little signs of wear, however, when it came to name-dropping famous former clients. His breathless evidence was punctuated by the names of celebrities until he was asked to desist by his own defence counsel.

Clifford's first wife, Liz, died in 2003, having been cheated on repeatedly during their near-40 years of married life. Clifford re-marred in 2010, tying the knot with his former PA Jo Westwood.

Clifford had one daughter, Louise, who suffered severe physical difficulties from birth which meant Clifford would wake several times in the night to tend to her. She was a regular visitor in the public gallery during Clifford's court cases, supporting her father.

Clifford died in hospital after collapsing at Littlehey Prison in Cambridgeshire.