Rolf Harris has died aged 93. The disgraced TV star died at his home, it's understood.
As of October last year, the former singer and artist was receiving round-the-clock care for neck cancer. He could reportedly no longer talk due to his condition and had to be fed through a tube.
The disgraced entertainer and convicted sex offender's death was confirmed by a registrar at Maidenhead Town Hall to the PA news agency.
Australian-born Harris was a family favourite in the UK for decades before he was convicted of 12 indecent assaults at London’s Southwark Crown Court in June 2014. His victims included an eight-year-old autograph hunter, two girls in their early teens and his daughter’s friend over 16 years.
READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community
Following his conviction, Harris, was stripped of his CBE – which he received after painting the Queen’s 80th birthday portrait. Harris was jailed for five years and nine months and released from Stafford prison on licence in May 2017.
He was formally cleared of four unconnected historical sex offences, which he had denied. Later the same year, one of the 12 indecent assault convictions was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
A statement from the family of Rolf Harris released by their solicitors said: “This is to confirm that Rolf Harris recently died peacefully surrounded by family and friends and has now been laid to rest.
“They ask that you respect their privacy. No further comment will be made.”
Harris began his career in the 1950s, releasing his top 10 hit Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport and a recording of Two Little Boys. He'd appeared on some of the biggest shows on TV, fronting BBC programmes including Animal Hospital and Rolf’s Cartoon Club. As a result the entertainer, who was born to Welsh parents in Australia, soon became a national treasure, loved and trusted by millions.
But all that came to an abrupt end in 2014, when his vile crimes were brought to light. The former star was arrested on historical sexual abuse allegations.
Following an eight-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, he was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison in June 2014. He was convicted of 12 indecent assaults on four teenage girls between 1968 and 1986, although one of those was later overturned.
He served nearly three years at HMP Stafford before being released on licence in May 2017. While still in prison in 2016, he was charged in relation to seven unconnected historic allegations of indecent assault but was cleared on three counts and the jury was discharged before reaching a verdict on the remaining four.
He was later retried for three offences and one new charge but was acquitted after the jury could not reach a verdict. At the time, he said in a statement: "I feel no sense of victory, only relief."
Harris, who lived in a £5 million mansion in Berkshire, shared his home with wife Alwen Hughes, 91, to whom he was married for 65 years. The couple share a daughter, Bindi, now 58.
ITV has recently released a new documentary telling the story of Harris' rise and fall through interviews with his victims, the police who investigated him and colleagues who worked alongside him. Made by TV production company Optomen, Hiding In Plain Sight will document his “public persona of a non-threatening eccentric who was devoted to his wife while revealing that actually, within the industry, Harris was increasingly known as a creep”.
READ NEXT:
- “My daughters are frightened”: Terrified mum exposes plague of 'cat-sized' rats causing chaos in neighbourhood
- Gay Village adult store Clonezone attacked for FOURTH time in two months as CCTV captures thugs on red motorbike
- Man and woman arrested on suspicion of attempted murder as victim left fighting for life after intruder attack
- Killing of schoolgirl Emily Jones at hands of paranoid schizophrenic 'could not have been predicted'
- Emergency services swarm street as two people cut from Audi that was flipped over onto roof in crash
