Rolf Harris: Convicted paedophile who used his fame to groom young girls dies aged 93 | UK News

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris, who turned one of many UK’s largest TV stars however was later jailed for utilizing his fame to groom and assault younger women, has died on the age of 93.

Harris died of neck most cancers and “frailty of outdated age” at his house in Bray, Berkshire, on 10 Could, in accordance with his loss of life certificates. The certificates additionally urged he can be cremated.

In an announcement, his household mentioned he “lately died peacefully surrounded by household and pals and has now been laid to relaxation”.

The Australian-born TV presenter was a household favorite for many years earlier than being jailed over sexual assaults on younger girls, together with a childhood buddy of his daughter and an autograph hunter, in 2014.

He denied all of the accusations however was convicted after a high-profile trial of a dozen historic indecent assaults towards 4 women and 4 expenses of manufacturing indecent youngster pictures. It wrecked his profession and ruined his repute.

Sentencing him to 5 years and 9 months in jail, the decide mentioned Harris had taken benefit of his celeb standing and proven no regret.

The downfall of a nationwide treasure

Harris arrived in Britain aged 22 from his native Australia in 1953 and have become a nationwide treasure who had a number of of his personal TV sequence, and appeared as a visitor on many others from the Nineteen Sixties onwards.

He had a string of hits with songs akin to Jake the Peg, Two Little Boys, and Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport. He additionally appeared a number of instances at Glastonbury Competition.

Learn extra: Rolf Harris’s greatest fear was not being loved – his depraved crimes ensure he won’t be

He was awarded many honours, together with an MBE, OBE and CBE, a BAFTA fellowship and honorary college doctorates, all of which had been revoked after his conviction.

Queen Elizabeth II sat for him for an eightieth birthday portrait which was hung in Buckingham Palace.

Operation Yewtree arrest

Main publicist Mark Borkowski mentioned: “When the accusations sank in you started to really feel cheated, that every one these feelings you’ve got had for an icon had been false.

“He had a darker aspect to him that overshadowed all of the enjoyable and video games he had broadcast for many years.

“Folks will bear in mind him as an entertainer, distinctive, [who] lived within the coronary heart of the nation and was good at reinventing himself – however he might be remembered for his crimes.”

Harris, married with a daughter, was amongst a dozen celebrities arrested throughout Operation Yewtree, one in every of a sequence of police investigations into historic intercourse abuse allegations towards high-profile figures – together with BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, a prolific intercourse offender uncovered solely after his loss of life.

At the beginning of his trial, the prosecutor described Harris as “a Jekyll and Hyde” character with a hidden darkish aspect to his character.

A childhood buddy of his daughter Bindi was his important sufferer, telling the jury he had groomed and indecently assaulted her repeatedly between the ages of 13 and 19, as soon as when his daughter was asleep in the identical room.

She known as the police about Harris after the vast publicity surrounding Savile’s publicity, although there was no connection between the 2 males’s crimes.

Harris mentioned he’d had a relationship with the lady however claimed it started after she turned 18. He later wrote to her father insisting nothing unlawful had occurred.

‘Dad and mom believed their kids had been secure’

Mike Hames, former head of the Metropolitan Police’s paedophile squad, mentioned: “Kids cherished him and oldsters had been keen to depart their kids with him as a result of they believed they had been secure.

“That is the proper option to function from the perspective of a kid abuser as a result of they can get the kid by themselves and since the kid is in awe and very unlikely to say something.”

Australian Tonya Lee, who waived her proper to anonymity, mentioned Harris abused her 3 times on someday when she was 15 and on a theatre group journey to the UK.

She later mentioned she contemplated taking her personal life due to the abuse.

Different victims informed the court docket that he touched or groped them, typically at public occasions or charity performances.

Jurors had been additionally informed of indecent assaults on girls in Australia, New Zealand, and Malta – though Harris wasn’t charged with abroad crimes.

Peter Watt, of the Nationwide Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Kids (NSPCC), mentioned the charity had helped police construct the case towards Harris after 28 calls to its helpline, together with 13 girls who mentioned he had abused them.

Mr Watt mentioned after Harris’s conviction: “His reckless and brazen sexual offending, typically in public locations, bizarrely close by of individuals he knew, speaks volumes about simply how untouchable he thought he was.”

Spouse stood by him in closing years

In 2015, Harris was stripped of his CBE and of honours in his native Australia.

In 2017, whereas he was nonetheless in jail, he was placed on trial a second time, over 4 allegations of indecent assault on three teenage women. He denied the costs and was found not guilty after the jury failed to agree verdicts.

In an announcement learn out by his lawyer, Harris mentioned: “I really feel no sense of victory, solely aid. I am 87 years outdated, my spouse is in sick well being and we merely need to spend our remaining time collectively in peace.”

Harris was free of jail midway via his second trial after serving three years. Considered one of his convictions was overturned on appeal.

He spent the remainder of his days dwelling reclusively together with his sculptor spouse Alwen, who had stood by him, on the couple’s Thames riverside house in Berkshire.