Inquest opens into death of Max Clifford after jail collapse
An inquest has opened into the death of disgraced former celebrity publicist Max Clifford.
The 74-year-old collapsed twice 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 December 10.
Cambridgeshire’s senior coroner David Heming opened and adjourned a 90-second inquest hearing in Huntingdon on Thursday.
He said: "The medical cause of death is not yet confirmed as the consultant pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination is undertaking histological examinations."
He said that as Clifford was in custody, there will be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.
He added: "I would like to express my condolences to the daughter of the deceased."
The hearing was adjourned until June 7 for a pre-inquest review.
Clifford was jailed for eight years in May 2014 after being convicted of a number of charges under Operation Yewtree, the Metropolitan Police investigation set up after the Jimmy Savile scandal.
He was the first person to be convicted as part of the national investigation.
During his sentencing, he branded his accusers as "fantasists".
The PR guru, who used his celebrity connections to lure women, was found guilty of a string of indecent assaults between 1977 and 1984.
In 2016 he was cleared of indecently assaulting a teenage girl after being accused of using his power to humiliate the 17-year-old into performing a sex act on him in the 1980s.
He had been due to appeal against all his convictions early next year, on the basis of fresh evidence.
