Freddie Starr said the justice system 'needs changing drastically' |
Comedian Freddie Starr stopped an interview with ITV's Susanna Reid after the Good Morning Britain host asked him about allegations of sex offences.
Starr was arrested in 2012 but has been told that he will not be prosecuted.
Interviewing him at his home, Reid asked if he had done anything that "could have been misinterpreted - in terms of your relationships".
Starr replied: "Are you being serious?" before getting up, taking off his microphone and asking Reid to leave.
"I want to end this interview now. I really do," he said. "Now if you'll leave my house, thank you."
But the 71-year-old later resumed the interview, telling the presenter the issue was still "so raw".
Last week, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the comedian in relation to 13 allegations.
There was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction in a 14th case, the CPS said, but it was not pursued because it was not thought to be in the public interest.
'Horrendous' timeStarr protested his innocence to Reid and described the 19 months since his arrest as "horrendous".
He said he did not know the women who made complaints, describing them as "just ghosts" and adding: "This happened, like, 50-odd years ago."
Speaking about the one allegation on which the CPS said it could have got a prosecution, he said: "If they could have prosecuted me, they certainly would have done... They're just saying that to watch their own backs."
He told Reid he had lost faith in the justice system. "It needs changing drastically," he said. "Just because you're arrested doesn't mean that you're guilty. You shouldn't be named until you're charged."
The presenter also asked about his relationship with his former publicist Max Clifford, who has been jailed for eight years for a string of indecent assaults against girls and young women.
"Max Clifford was a different animal to me," Starr replied. "I didn't like Max Clifford. I didn't go out with him, I didn't do anything with him. It's got nothing to do with me."
'So raw'After prematurely stopping the interview, Starr later returned with his wife Sophie.
"It's hard to do an interview like this with it being so raw," he explained. "I've only been released three days ago. I'm just catching up on my sleep."
He also admitted that he had contemplated suicide.
Mrs Starr, 33, said: "It's changed him as a man. Even the little things, like with his daughter, at one point he was scared to even cuddle her because you've got the world judging you.
"I know Freddie will come back from this. I would say he is one of the most caring, gentle men that you can ever meet. He'd do anything for anybody.
"And the fact is that for him to be accused of this, thank God it is now over, people can start to see the true Freddie and not the person that was portrayed in the media because it's not him at all."
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