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Rolf Harris will not stand trial over allegations he downloaded sexual images of children Rolf Harris will not stand trial over allegations he downloaded sexual images of children
(35 minutes later)
Rolf Harris will not stand trial over allegations he downloaded sexual images of children, prosecutors said today. Claims that Rolf Harris browsed websites featuring girls as young as 13 and took notes on how to delete his internet history were never heard by the jury who this week convicted him of 12 counts of indecent assault against children, it can now be reported.
The entertainer is appearing in court to be sentenced for a string of indecent assaults, after he 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. Prosecutors were due to claim that the 84-year-old entertainer, who will be sentenced later this afternoon, accessed websites with names such as "My little nieces", "Tiny teen girlfriends" and "Russian girlfriends".
Prosecutors had claimed that Harris had 33 such photographs in a much larger collection of thousands of adult pornographic images. Harris was charged with four counts of accessing indecent images by police, but never entered pleas as his defence team successfully persuaded the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, to separate them off from the main trial.
Prosecutor Sasha Wass QC told Southwark Crown Court: "In the light of the 12 unanimous convictions on the counts that Mr Harris faced, the Crown prosecution Service has decided that it is no longer in the public interest to proceed with a trial on these four charges." Today, prosecutor Sasha Wass QC told Southwark Crown Court that the Crown Prosecution Service had since decided that it was "no longer in the public interest" to pursue a second trial on the outstanding charges "in the light of the 12 unanimous convictions on the counts that Mr Harris faced".
But the 84-year-old’s legal team told Mr Justice Sweeney in previously un reportable legal argument that the models in the photographs were over 18, according to their identity documents provided by website bosses in the Ukraine. The court previously heard how police searching Harris's home in Bray, Berkshire in 2012 had discovered a stash of adult images on his desktop computer, 33 of which appeared to be of children including one under the age of 13.
They also maintained that the entertainer accidentally accessed the images when he clicked on links from mainstream porn sites. They also found a hand written notes in Harris's diary detailing how to delete material from his computer. He had written: "1) start button 2) control panel 3) internet options 4) press delete under heading below history, make sure all boxes ticked."
Prosecutors claimed he had looked at a site called "teeny tiny girlfriends" and accessed a picture of a girl who was "extremely young in appearance". Harris's defence team argued that the models in the photographs were all over 18 according to identity documents provided by the Ukrainian owners of the websites which featured them. They also claimed he had only clicked on them by accident while browsing mainstream porn sites.
Harris also allegedly clicked on other words including "youngest teen porn", "my little nieces" and "young teen girls". Earlier this morning Harris was seen leaving his riverside home, where he has been living on bail since his conviction on Monday, by boat. He arrived at court wearing a grey suit, white shirt and multicoloured tie, supported by his daughter Bindi.
The prosecution attempted to use a witness called Geoff Cooper, who claimed that in 1978 or 1979 Harris was passing around naked pictures of children at the canteen at Radio Clyde in Glasgow, but his evidence was ruled inadmissible. During proceedings he sat in the glass dock flanked by a single security guard, listening impassively through a hearing loop headset.
Expert opinion gathered by both sides disagreed over whether the images were of underage girls, with the prosecution claiming one was of a child under 13. In mitigation, his lawyer Sonia Woodley QC said his sexual liaisons with underage girls had been "brief" and "opportunistic rather than predatory". She added that during his trial he had received two bags of cards from well-wishers and enough letters of support to fill three lever-arch files.
This was denied by the defence, which maintained that all the models were adults and that the word "teen" could refer to someone of 18 or 19 years of age. The court also heard that Harris was suffering from "ill health", although no details were given. The judge said: "Given his ill health the effects of a prison sentence will be all the greater."
As the counts were debated during legal argument, Ms Wass said: " If it was an accident, it appears to be an accident he had a number of times." The court also heard extracts from victim impact statements by the four women Harris has been convicted of abusing.
Both sides agreed he had clicked on "young teen galleries" and "Russian virgins" while looking at porn. One victim, who was a former friend of Harris's daughter Bindi, said: "The attacks that happened have made me feel dirty, grubby and disgusting. The whole sordid saga has traumatised me."
The veteran performer was charged with four counts of accessing indecent images by police, but he never entered pleas to them in court. During the legal argument, prosecutors suggested they might bring five charges against Harris. She added that the abuse had affected hear throughout her life and that she had turned to alcohol to escape.
His defence team argued that the charges should be dealt with separately to the indecent assault claims on the grounds that he could not receive a fair trial if they were presented together, and that he would suffer embarrassment with the court sifting through his porn collection. "As a young girl I had aspirations to have a career, settle down and have a family," she said.
Harris made a note in his diary about how to delete material from his computer, which he had owned since October 2010 before it was seized by police in November 2012, after seeking advice from a friend. "However, as a direct result of his actions, this has never materialised. The knowledge of what he had done to me haunted me. However, his popularity with the British public made it harder for me to deal with."
A second note on another page said: "Kind girls safari; go to private browsing, go to button with black guy silhouette for privacy." Another victim, who was assaulted by Harris when she visited England as a teenager, said the incident was a "turning point" in her life from which she had never recovered. "I have never felt safe since, I live life in a constant state of anxiety," she said.
Ms Wass argued that this demonstrated "the defendant was very anxious to delete this particular material", but the entertainer claimed he was simply embarrassed about having accessed adult porn.
Harris's defence team claimed that all he searched for was "kind girls" and "babes", which took him to adult porn sites, from where he clicked on adverts that led to the disputed material.
Barrister Simon Ray told Mr Justice Sweeney that 328 of the unique web page views that Harris generated, 39 per cent of the total, were for adult porn, while only 31, which was four per cent, were for material that featured younger looking models.
In total 24 images found in the "allocated" memory of the computer were alleged to be illegal, and another nine that were found in an "unallocated" area, where deleted files were stored.
The defence argued that the charges should be thrown out after the identity cards were provided by the website companies, and prosecutors eventually decided not to pursue the counts.
PA