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| Max Clifford trial: Topless women in office 'a joke' | Max Clifford trial: Topless women in office 'a joke' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Max Clifford has told a court that he had topless women in his office as part of a practical joke. | Max Clifford has told a court that he had topless women in his office as part of a practical joke. |
| The publicist said it was "very unusual, but it did happen". | |
| The 70-year-old from Hersham, Surrey, who is on trial for 11 counts of indecent assault, also told Southwark Crown Court he had no interest in "silly little girls". | |
| He denies all the charges, which relate to seven alleged victims, aged from 14 to 20 between 1966 and 1984. | |
| Mr Clifford was questioned about two female employees, who were 17 and 18 when they started working for him and with whom he went on to have affairs. | Mr Clifford was questioned about two female employees, who were 17 and 18 when they started working for him and with whom he went on to have affairs. |
| 'Guilty secret' | 'Guilty secret' |
| "I got to know [them] and the relationships developed naturally," he told the court. | "I got to know [them] and the relationships developed naturally," he told the court. |
| The publicist also denied suggestions he kept a letter sent by one of his accusers as a "trophy". | The publicist also denied suggestions he kept a letter sent by one of his accusers as a "trophy". |
| Asked if kept the letter as a "guilty secret", he said: "If I had a guilty secret about that letter I would have destroyed it and not showed it to my wife and daughter." | Asked if kept the letter as a "guilty secret", he said: "If I had a guilty secret about that letter I would have destroyed it and not showed it to my wife and daughter." |
| The letter was found by police in his bedside table. | The letter was found by police in his bedside table. |
| Mr Clifford acknowledged he was involved in a bet between comedians Freddie Starr and Lennie Bennett in which he had to entice a female traffic warden to his office and take revealing photos of her with the promise of a possible television appearance. | |
| 'Easy game' | |
| The court heard a passage from his biography in which he said he was able to take topless photos of the woman. | |
| He had described the bet as a "good game" and "so easy I played it several times". | |
| The PR guru also told the court he had never been "sexually frustrated", that he had been "very lucky" and had been in several "loving relationships" with women. | |
| Under cross-examination by prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC, he said he had no interest in or attraction to young girls. | |
| "I was very happy with my sex life and I didn't need to impress young girls to achieve any kind of sexual satisfaction or interest or stimulation," he said. | |
| "It has never been me, that's not the person I ever was. I happen to like women, yes sure, and I have had some wonderful relationships in my life. I like women, is that a crime?" | |
| Mr Clifford said he was "greedy" in that he had a wife while having affairs with other women. | |
| "But I was never frustrated and never interested in silly little girls," he told the court. |