Max Clifford's dying months 'lacked dignity', daughter claims

Max Clifford was jailed in May 2014 for a string of assaults on women and girls

The daughter of the disgraced publicist Max Clifford has told an inquest his "dying months lacked humanity and dignity".

Clifford, 74, collapsed at Littlehey Prison in Cambridgeshire where he was serving an eight-year sentence for historical sex offences.

He died at Hinchingbrooke Hospital near Huntingdon on 10 December 2017.

In a statement read to the coroner in Peterborough, Louise Clifford said: "I could see that he was fading."

Ms Clifford said her father first mentioned "feeling tight-chested and unable to take a deep breath" five months before his death.

A consultant cardiologist told her the right side of her father's heart was "stiff and shiny" and recommended an MRI scan.

"I could see him getting more and more frail," Ms Clifford said.

"He would complain to me daily about the ice-cold showers and cold cell and what a shock to the system it was each time."

Ms Clifford said the "severity of his condition wasn't established" and that "his dying months lacked humanity and dignity".

Clifford's daughter Louise said she could "see him fading"

Clifford was jailed in May 2014 for a string of indecent assaults on women and young girls. His conviction was upheld after his death.

A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons noted chronic problems with the heating and boiler system at Littlehey Prison.

However, Simon Milburn, assistant coroner for Cambridgeshire, said: "There's no detail in terms of precise timings, locations, temperatures, anything of that nature."

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Dr Ann Coxon, Clifford's physician, told the inquest that the publicist could not brush his teeth as he was so breathless in the weeks before his death.

Describing a visit to see Clifford in prison in September 2017, Dr Coxon said: "Just looking at how somebody had gone from playing tennis in May to walking with a shuffle, starting to become breathless from conversation, that's a very rapid deterioration.

"I saw him dying in front of my eyes."

Clifford had communicated to her through his lawyers because he "didn't want other people visiting him to know he was sick", describing the situation as "Chinese whispers", the hearing was told.

The inquest continues.