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Rolf Harris awaits sentencing after conviction for indecent assaults Rolf Harris awaits sentencing after conviction for indecent assaults
(35 minutes later)
Rolf Harris could face dying behind bars after he is sentenced on Friday for a string of indecent assaults. Rolf Harris faces a potentially lengthy jail term as he is sentenced on Friday for carrying out a series of indecent assaults on young women and girls, including an eight-year-old autograph hunter and the 13-year-old friend of his daughter.
The shamed entertainer was found guilty of 12 counts at London's Southwark crown court on Monday in unanimous verdicts by a jury of six men and six women. The 84-year-old entertainer was convicted of 12 counts of indecent assault on Monday, when he was warned by the trial judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, that a jail sentence was extremely likely.
Harris, 84, from Bray in Berkshire, was convicted of nine assaults between 1968 and 1985 – one on a girl aged seven or eight, and the rest on teenagers between 14 and 19. "In reality, given the conviction on all 12 counts, it is inevitable that the type of sentence that is uppermost in the court's mind is a custodial sentence and he must understand that," Sweeney told Harris's barrister.
The law at the time put the punishment at a maximum of two years, or five years for victims under 13. He would be jailed under the terms of the law at the time of the assaults, which date between the late 1960s and 1985, meaning each offence has a maximum term of between two and 10 years. It is up to the judge to determine whether terms run concurrently or consecutively.
The remaining three guilty verdicts were for three counts of indecent assault on Tonya Lee, who has waived her right to anonymity, in 1986 when she was 15, when the maximum penalty had changed to 10 years. The jury at Southwark crown court unanimously found the Australian-born TV star and artist guilty of seven assaults against the childhood friend of his daughter Bindi, beginning when the girl was aged 13 and on holiday. The court heard Harris continued a sexual liaison with the woman, 35 years his junior, until her late 20s.
Mr Justice Sweeney will have to pass a sentence taking into account all of the offences, and may consider Harris's age. He was also convicted of groping a girl aged about eight who had sought his autograph at a public event in Portsmouth, and touching a teenage waitress during the filming of a TV show in Cambridge.
On Monday, he warned Harris's legal team he is likely to face prison. The judge said: "In reality, given the conviction on all 12 counts, it is inevitable that the type of sentence that is uppermost in the court's mind is a custodial sentence and he must understand that." The three final counts relate to an assault on a then-15-year-old member of an Australian youth theatre group in 1986 when she was on a tour of the UK. That victim, Tonya Lee, waived her right to anonymity after selling her story to the media.
The once-loved entertainer was finally exposed as a serial sex offender at the end of his trial on Monday, his hypocrisy brought into sharp relief by the fact he had funded and starred in an educational film warning children of the dangers of paedophiles. Harris – who was seen on Friday morning leaving his riverside home in Bray, Berkshire, by boat – was previously one of the best-loved and enduring entertainers of his era, with a TV career dating back 60 years and a reputation for a rapport with children.
Police are looking into dozens of further claims from alleged victims in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. As well as the four victims whose evidence formed the charges, the court also heard evidence from six more alleged victims as so-called bad character witnesses. Seven more alleged victims did not give their evidence for legal reasons.
The charges of which Harris was convicted concern one woman who was groped when she was just seven or eight and asked for his autograph, another two who fell prey as teenagers, and a catalogue of abuse against his daughter's best friend. During and since the court case a series of other women have come forward to make allegations against Harris, with the police and NSPCC charity saying they have received a number of calls.
During the trial, the court also heard from six other women who claim they were groped by Harris while abroad, including one who told the jury the artist forced his tongue in her mouth when she was 11 or 12. Harris now faces the possibility of losing much of his £11m fortune after some victims contacted a law firm specialising in civil compensation claims over sexual abuse.
She was off sick from school at a family friend's house in Australia in 1969 when Harris told her "I want to be the first person to introduce you to a tongue kiss," before he pounced. Since the verdict Harris's home town in Western Australia has begun to shed its association with the entertainer, stripping him of honours and making plans to remove a plaque outside his childhood home.
Prosecutors also attempted to use evidence from another seven women with similar accounts, including a celebrity who said she was groped on live TV, but this was deemed inadmissible.
Since his conviction, Harris, who has been stripped of his Bafta fellowship and faces losing his CBE, has also lost an honorary degree from the University of East London. Questions have also been raised over the future of his artwork, which includes a portrait of the Queen, and authorities in his native Western Australia are planning to remove tributes.
His multimillion-pound fortune could also be badly dented by legal costs and compensation claims.