Sir Cliff Richard opens up about 'trauma' of false sex abuse allegations amid bid to keep accused anonymous until charge

• Video report by ITV News Correspondent Sejal Karia

Singer Sir Cliff Richard and DJ Paul Gambaccini have called for a "re-balancing of the legal system" as they helped launch a petition to try to force a change in the law to give those accused of sexual offences anonymity until they are charged.

Both men were falsely accused of historical sex offences and have joined forces with pressure group Falsely Accused Individuals for Reform (Fair).

Speaking to reporters at the launch event for the petition for anonymity for those accused of sex offences until charged, Gambaccini said he used to love the UK until he was "betrayed" by law enforcement agencies over "preposterous" allegations.

He said his family "did not deserve to be hit over the head with a sledge hammer" when they were drawn into the matter when contacted by the press over the allegations.

He said: "People who have been going through the system continue to send us emails and letters. Please help us and please help me.

"Help me to love this country as much as I once did."

Sir Cliff added there were hundreds if not thousands of people who had been affected in the same way and he had heard "heartbreaking stories" from people who had spent time in prison after being wrongly accused.

Sir Cliff said: "We have both been through the mill. When you know you didn't do it, you feel you're in a hole you can't get you of."

The petition had already garnered more than 5,600 signatures by the time the pair made their speeches on Monday.

If support for the petition tops 10,000 signatures, it will get a Government response, while 100,000 signatures will mean it is considered for debate in Parliament.

Speaking to reporters at the launch event in Victoria Tower Gardens, Sir Cliff also talked about the impact of the allegation on his health.

“I didn’t realise how much it had affected me, I can tell you that within six months of the allegation I had shingles all over my head and my face,” he told reporters.

“When I came out of the court case, I won my case hands down but I felt no jubilation, I did not punch the air as I came out.”

He said he didn't sleep properly for four years, came out in shingles all over his face and head, and felt like he had been "hung out to dry".

He said "no smoke without fire" was a "stupid saying", adding: "People can be evil enough to tell a lie about an innocent person."

• Sir Cliff Richard speaking to ITV News last year after winning his privacy case against the BBC

The petition declares anonymity is needed "to protect the reputations of all innocent suspects, whether well-known or not, from the lasting stigma of a false sexual allegation".

Fair was founded by Daniel Janner QC, who also launched the petition. His father, the late Lord Janner of Braunstone QC, faced allegations of child sex abuse. The family of the former Labour peer have always maintained his innocence.

Sir Cliff, 78, won his privacy case against the BBC over its coverage of a South Yorkshire Police raid on his home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, in August 2014, following a child sex assault allegation.

Sir Cliff denied the allegation.

He was never arrested, and in June 2016 prosecutors announced he would face no charges.

Mr Gambaccini was arrested in October 2013 over a claim he sexually assaulted two teenage boys as part of Operation Yewtree, set up in the wake of the revelations about paedophile Jimmy Savile.

The 70-year-old, a regular fixture on the airwaves for decades, spent a year on bail before the case was dropped.