Thursday, December 6, 2012

Max Clifford's Denial of Sexual Abuse of a Child


Did Max Clifford molest a child? 
Statement Analysis gets to the truth. 
A reliable denial is simple, easy, and does not need to be taught, coached, or counseled.  "I didn't do it" will suffice. 
"I" is one of the English language's most used words and flows easy from the earliest of speech. 
"didn't" is the past tense verb, and from the age of 5 on out, future and past is a topic understood by all. 
"it" refers to whatever is accused.  "I didn't molest a child" is a very strong, and highly reliable denial.  It is all that Max Clifford needs to say.  
Deceptive people will say, "I never molested a child", or "I would never molest a child" but avoid using the simplest of denials:  the 3 component reliable denial.  
What did Max Clifford say?
Did he say, "I did not molest a child"?  Or, does he use the commonly unreliable words such as "would" and "never" in his statement?


Max Clifford has said allegations of sex offences against him are "damaging and totally untrue" in a statement outside a London police station.
The 69-year-old publicist was arrested earlier on suspicion of sex offences and questioned at the police station in Belgravia.
Speaking outside the station, he said he was facing two allegations dating back to 1977.
He said: "These allegations are damaging, and totally untrue.
"On a personal level they are very distressing for myself, my wife, my family and loved ones.
"Anyone who really knew me all those years ago and those who have known me since would have no doubt that I would never act in the way I have today been accused."
Note what is missing:  the reliable denial.  The reliable denial is what innocent people say easily, often not waiting to be asked.  They say it without qualification or sensitivity indicators. They do not need to wait for court, nor to wait for anything else.  They simply say "I didn't molest the child" or "I didn't molest a child" without additional words.  Let's look at his statement again, part by part:
"These allegations are damaging, and totally untrue.
"These" allegations is used; not "those" allegations, indicating closeness.  He then says that they are not simply "untrue", but being "untrue" is not made sensitive by the additional word, "totally."  We expect the innocent to say "I didn't do it" first, and then to, perhaps, tell us other things.  
"On a personal level they are very distressing for myself, my wife, my family and loved ones.
"On a personal level" indicates that there may be other levels in which things may be different.  Professional level?  Impersonal level?  Is there more to be known on a different level?
Note the order:
myself
my wife
my family
my loved ones
If he did not do it, he can simply say so, and knowing this, others may not be so "very distressed." 

"Anyone who really knew me all those years ago and those who have known me since would have no doubt that I would never act in the way I have today been accused."
This is a strong indication that he may do what so many others have done:  the Gnostic second person. 
The "gnostic second person" is a type of separation, or distancing, that there is 'another person' that isn't 'like me' that behaves differently.  This dissociation is often heard in guilty people.  Dennis Dechaine, upon speaking to police, said that what happened to Sarah Cherry didn't seem like it was really him. 
There are those who "knew him" years ago, and those who "really" knew him, are in different categories.  Then, there are those who currently know him. 
Among these, they "would" have no doubt; not that they "do" have no doubt, but only "would", which is future/conditional tense, weakening the assertion.  Next he says among these that "would" have no doubt that they know he "would never" and not "did not" act in this manner.  This is to weaken his assertion even further. 
Not only does he not deny the allegation, but he makes a very weak case for some people, under some conditions, may believe that he didn't do what he was accused; allowing for other people, under other conditions, to believe that he did do it. 
Principle: 
If a subject cannot bring himself to say he did not do it, we are not permitted to say it for him. 


The PR guru is the fifth person to be arrested by police investigating the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal. He was bailed at around 9.20pm.
Police working on Operation Yewtree had said they were looking at three categories of offences; those allegedly committed by Savile alone, those allegedly committed by Savile and "others", and alleged offences by "others".
Mr Clifford's lawyer, Charlotte Harris, said he would assist the police "as best he can with their enquiries".
A Met spokesman said: "The individual (held today) falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed 'others'.
"We are not prepared to discuss further."
Gary Glitter, comedian Freddie Starr, DJ Dave Lee Travis and a man in his 70s, reported to be former television producer Wilfred De'Ath, have been arrested and bailed as part of the probe.
Last month Scotland Yard said it was dealing with about 450 potential victims, the vast majority of whom claimed they had fallen prey to Savile.

26 comments:

Mainah said...


"These allegations are damaging, and totally untrue."

This also speaks to (his) priority; first on his mind is "damage" control.

OFF TOPIC: I'm following a response by Tom Weed, author, etc. about his association with Revolution PAC, whose organizers are being accused of taking in $1.2mil and paying salaries to themselves with the bulk of it. Tom Weed said everything except, "I didn't steal." I won't say it for him.

John Mc Gowan said...

Peter,
thanks for covering this, this is so ironic given that he is the biggest publicist in the UK, and that the other celebrities alledgedly accused of similiar acts all went to him for advice.

This is a strong indication that he may do what so many others have done: the Gnostic second person.

I have not heard this term used in SA before i like it,ive learned something new.
Thanks

John Mc Gowan said...

Mainah said...

"These allegations are damaging, and totally untrue."

This also speaks to (his) priority; first on his mind is "damage" control.

Thats the what he is employed to do Mainah which is all the more ironic.

Tania Cadogan said...

I wonder what he will say and do to save his own skin?

How much dirty laundry does this man know about others?

What favors will he be calling in in order to minimise his guilt and possible sentence?

I await with interest to see who supports him and who distances themselves from him.

It is also interesting to see this news breaking hot on the tails of the leveson inquiry in regards to phone hacking where i think he got awarded a large sum of money.

It will come in handy for his defence.

Methinks a few emails to the media pointing out his lack of a reliable denial using statement analysis is in order.

Aren't i a stinker :)

John Mc Gowan said...

When asked by a journalist "Is this all part of a witch hunt"

Max clifford replied "You make up your own mind"

John Mc Gowan said...

OT update.

John McAfee Rushed To Guatemala Hospital.


Software guru is rushed to hospital after complaining of chest pains mere hours after being denied asylum to Guatemala.10:04pm UK, Thursday 06 December 2012

John McAfee suffered two mild heart attacks, witnesses said

McAfee was being held at a detention centre



Email
Software pioneer John McAfee has been rushed to hospital in Guatemala after complaining of chest pains, according to reports.

Mr McAfee was rushed via ambulance to a Guatemala City hospital just hours after he was denied political asylum in the Central American country.

The software guru, who is fighting deportation to Belize where he is wanted for questioning by police over the death of his neighbour, suffered two mild heart attacks, witnesses told Reuters.

An ABC News correspondent on the scene said Mr McAfee appeared unresponsive until medical personnel attempted to undress him, prompting him to say, "not in front of the press".

The 67-year-old was being held at a Guatemalan immigration detention centre for entering the country illegally.

Police in Belize said earlier they expected him to be returned to the capital city of Belmopan "shortly".


McAfee is wanted for questioning in Belize
Mr McAfee fled to Guatemala over the weekend with his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sam Venegas, after going on the run following the murder of his neighbour Gregory Faull in Belize last month.

Police want to question him as a "person of interest" in his fellow US expat's death.

Though intent on eluding the police, Mr McAfee has stayed in constant contact with the press and maintained an active blog.

After his arrival in Guatemala, Mr McAfee employed former Guatemalan attorney general Telesforo Guerra to manage his plea to stay in the country.

"(Mr McAfee) is persecuted in Belize, persecuted politically because he stopped financing the government," Mr Guerra said.

Mr McAfee has maintained his innocence since escaping Belize police on the island of Ambergris Caye hours after his neighbour was shot dead on November 11.

Mr Faull, who was found with a 9mm bullet in his head, had led neighbours in writing a letter to the mayor complaining that the millionaire's "vicious" dogs and aggressive security guards were scaring tourists and residents.

Before he fled after the murder, Mr McAfee shot dead his four dogs, which he said may have been poisoned by Mr Faull.

Ballistics experts have exhumed the animals and are examining them to see if the bullets match that found in the victim.

http://news.sky.com/story/1021843/john-mcafee-rushed-to-guatemala-hospital

Lemon said...

The sheer number of possible victims boggles the mind. It is horrifying.

Unknown said...

Max Clifford ...Do we know what type of profession he was in in the period 1977?,,,I know he is famous in the UK as the premier PR Guru an go to guy..Useally kiss an tell storys..Wonder whom has been telling on Max .

Jo said...

OT
http://gawker.com/5965838/post-photographer-who-snapped-subway-death-pic-speaks-out-i-was-too-far-away

Curious what other's opinion is on the photographer who took pictures of the man killed on subway tracks.

Tania Cadogan said...

off topic


Thousands of images seized from the home of Susan Powell's father-in-law show the missing Utah mother as she walks in public and sits in her car - apparently unaware that someone is taking her picture.
The photos - some of which are sexually suggestive - were obtained under public records laws Thursday by The Associated Press, and revealed on Thursday - three years to the day after Mrs Powell went missing.
Authorities uncovered the files while serving a search warrant last year at the home where her husband, Josh Powell, and father-in-law, Steven Powell, were living.


Josh Powell killed himself and the couple's two young children earlier this year.
Some of the images seized during the search, including those of bathing young girls who lived next door to Steven Powell, were used earlier this year to convict him of voyeurism charges.
Other photos show a variety of women, apparently unaware that a camera is focused on them, as they walk along sidewalks, at the park or into the mall.
Steven Powell was not charged with any crimes related to images of Susan Powell, but the files show she was often the focus of his lens.
In a folder labeled with her initials, SMP, there are images of her walking through parking lots or sitting in her car.
It appears the photographer is taking the pictures from another vehicle.
Some images zoom closely to Susan Powell's crotch or her backside, including a set of photos taken through blinds as she's bending over and doing laundry.
None of the pictures, which were found on a disc in Steven Powell's bedroom, show her naked.
The folder dedicated to Susan Powell contains nearly 4,500 images.
In journals that authorities have also made public, Powell describes himself as a 'voyeur' and Susan as an 'exhibitionist.'

He talks about using a mirror to spy on her under the bathroom door, and he writes about taking sexual pleasure in looking at images of Susan Powell that he kept on his computer.
Powell talks in his journals about taking lots of video of Susan during a trip to Silver Falls in 2009, and a folder of images from the trip shows only photos of her backside as she's walking.
In one entry, dated a few months before Susan Powell disappeared, Steven Powell wrote that he had just woken up 'from a most pleasant dream about Susan


He described a sexually charged dream in which Susan asked him, 'Do you think I would make a good wife for you?'
Anne Bremner, an attorney who represents Susan Powell's parents, said the images support the family's assertion that Steven Powell had a concerning attraction for his daughter-in-law

'When you look at those pictures, it's clearly surreptitious. It's clearly obsessive,' Bremner said.

The family believes Steven Powell knows something about Susan Powell's disappearance, and authorities have described him as uncooperative.
Mark Quigley, an attorney who represented Steven Powell in the voyeurism case, did not return a call seeking comment. Powell is in prison, serving a sentence of more than two years.
Susan Powell disappeared in Utah in December 2009.

Records have shown that Utah investigators handling the case focused their attention primarily on her husband.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244337/Susan-Powell-Files-father-laws-contain-sexually-explicit-images-her.html

Mainah said...

OFF TOPIC (AGAIN) oooopsies, that should have been Tom Woods...not Tom Weed ...

Skeptical said...

I wonder if Jerry Saville will become the scapegoat? The allegations of child sexual abuse among the British aristocracy have been rampant for years. There were many of Britain's elite Jerry Saville was alleged to supply children to. Sir Edward Heath (prime minister from 1970-74) was known to take young boys from the Jersey care home, Haute Garrene, on boating weekends on his yacht the ‘Morning Cloud’. Then there was the Kincora Care Home scandal in Northern Ireland that was covered up presumably because Lord Louie Mountbatten, Prince Phillip's uncle, was involved. There had been rumors for years of alleged abuse of Indian peasant children by Lord Mountbatten while he was Viceroy of India. Is it too much of a coincidence that he died from a bomb placed on his yacht by the IRA?

John Mc Gowan said...

Update..

Max Clifford: 'No Truth' To Sex Claims
9:54am UK, Friday 07 December 2012
Max Clifford talks to reporters as he leaves his house



Email
Max Clifford has told reporters today he has "nothing to hide" after he was arrested over allegations of sexual offences.

The publicist was released on bail on Thursday after being detained at his Surrey home by officers from Operation Yewtree, the investigation set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal.

Clifford, 69, was held on suspicion of historic sex offences and taken to Belgravia police station in central London for questioning.

Police said he was bailed to appear at a later date but refused to give any further details.

More follows...

http://news.sky.com/story/1022061/max-clifford-no-truth-to-sex-claims

John Mc Gowan said...

Speaking as he left his house, Clifford said the allegations "are totally without any foundation and are totally untrue".

He said he had "absolutely nothing to hide" and added he thought one claim was in 1977 and another different one was a few years later.

He said he planned to continue working and "trying to make things as normal as I possible can in the circumstances".

Clifford said it was "a horrible experience but you have to face up to these things".

http://news.sky.com/story/1022061/max-clifford-nothing-to-hide-over-sex-claims

Anonymous said...

@Skeptical - Are you saying you think it's possible that the IRA killed Mountbatten because of his alleged paedophilia?

Without making any comment on whether the allegations have substance because I have absolutely no idea, why on earth would a terrorist organisation with its own track record of paedophile members (Gerry Adams' brother being merely the most high-profile alleged offender) care? Not to mention, if they were so taken with the idea of protecting children, why would they regularly murder them? Don't forget that along with Mountbatten, a woman in her 80s, and 18 soldiers, they also murdered two teenage boys that day.

Back on topic - Peter, I was really interested to read your analysis on this. I was watching the news when Clifford made his statement and from the reading I've done here I instantly kenw he wasn't denying the allegation, despite the fact the media parsed his words this way. It was good to get detailed analysis from you on each of the elements of his speech. Thank you.

dadgum said...

Jo..
Listen to his recorded statement, then to the Andersen Cooper interview from last night (sorry I don't have the links). Very poor interview, no follow up and sounds like a point is being made by AC.

Personal opinion is he was taking photos, and not trying to help. No one was. Says much about society...

John Mc Gowan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John Mc Gowan said...

ecossie possie said...

Max Clifford ...Do we know what type of profession he was in in the period 1977?,,,I know he is famous in the UK as the premier PR Guru an go to guy..Useally kiss an tell storys..Wonder whom has been telling on Max.

ecossie,This raised my eyebrows

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Clifford ran and took part in discreet weekly adult birthday parties for his friends and clients in South London.[27] This brought him into contact with various madams and prostitutes, a connection which still serves him well in his business to satisfy the often bizarre needs of his clients, as well as an early warning system of interesting behaviour of various persons.[1]

Mmmm?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Clifford

Tania Cadogan said...

john said...
Speaking as he left his house, Clifford said the allegations "are totally without any foundation and are totally untrue".

He said he had "absolutely nothing to hide" and added he thought one claim was in 1977 and another different one was a few years later.

He said he planned to continue working and "trying to make things as normal as I possible can in the circumstances".

Clifford said it was "a horrible experience but you have to face up to these things".

http://news.sky.com/story/1022061/max-clifford-nothing-to-hide-over-sex-claims


So many qualifiers.
it sounds like a denial yet that is the one thing that is missing.

At no point do we see or hear a reliable first person singular, event specific, past tense denial.

If he can't deny it, we can't do it for him.

The eddie shah case is now going through the courts as well i believe

Former newspaper proprietor Eddy Shah has pleaded not guilty to raping a schoolgirl in the 1990s.

Mr Shah, 68, who appeared at the Old Bailey under his real name of Selim Shah, denied six counts of rape involving a girl under 16.

The former media boss, of Chippenham, Wiltshire, owned the now defunct Today newspaper in the 1980s.

He now owns and runs golf courses, leisure centres and hotels, including Wiltshire Golf and Country Club


What is clear is that in the entertainment business, the casting couch in it's various forms is alive and well.
Fans will lie about their ages and do anything to get access to their idols, the idols get caught up in the moment and grab everything on offer without thinking of the consequences or being a responsible adult.
Wannabe stars will make themselves available if they think they will be on tv an failing that we have the classic kiss and tell beloved of tabloids.

It used to be that men had their brains in their pants and women were mostly senible, now, in this age of sexual equality, the women have their brains in their knickers.
they do see the consequences of their actions, they see bragging rights, bib h bux for their story and hey if they get pregnant a whopping big paycheck each month for child support.
Celebs aren't helping either, their antics spread across the media kids by different fathers and still looking glamorous and having a social life (no mention of the costs for the nannies, general staff and hangers on)

Right now a lot of celebs are thinking back to their youth and thinking oh crap!

Anonymous said...

Max.. left many young girls broken, they may have been of legal consent but only just...as far as i know. They where desperate to get a foot hold into the industry & believed they where doing the right thing. if they didn't do as he asked, he would slate them via press and they where desperate to succeed. He has always hidden by his charity work ..... and press always knew they would get a story lol ....Such a good man ...I hope they get a conviction He does distance himself but sets the whole thing up gets his evidence then tries to black mail the girl so she is under his control

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