The National Criminal Intelligence Service had begun investigating King for child sexual abuse in 2000, when a man told them he had been assaulted by King and others 30 years earlier. The man had originally approached publicist Max Clifford, himself later jailed in 2014 for sexual assault; Clifford told him that he should go to the police. King was arrested in November that year and bailed on £150,000, £50,000 of which was put up by Simon Cowell. He was arrested again in January 2001 on further allegations. 27 men told police that King had sexually assaulted them during the period 1969–1989. Police found pictures of teenagers in a search of King's home. King admitted having approached thousands of people with questionnaires about youth interests, doing market research. The questionnaires asked recipients to list topics according to importance including music, sport, friends and family; the prosecution claimed that boys who listed sex high in their list of priorities were then targeted by King.