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Rolf Harris trial: Entertainer known as the 'octopus' for wandering hands, court told Rolf Harris trial: Entertainer known as the 'octopus' for wandering hands, court told
(about 3 hours later)
Veteran entertainer Rolf Harris was a "Jekyll and Hyde" character whose "untouchable" reputation allowed him to carry out a string of alleged indecent assaults on under-age girls, a court has heard. Rolf Harris, the entertainer, used his “untouchable” reputation to conceal a string of shocking assaults on children and young women, it was claimed on the opening day of his trial.
The 84-year-old was even known at an Australian TV channel as "the octopus" because of the way he put his hands all over women, London's Southwark Crown Court heard today. Southwark Crown Court heard yesterday that the four alleged victims of the presenter, painter and musician include a childhood friend of his own daughter, whom he is alleged to have groomed and molested from the age of 13.
Opening the case against the star, who denies 12 counts of indecent assault between 1968 and 1986, prosecutor Sasha Wass QC said Harris's alleged victims were "overawed" at meeting him, saying: "Mr Harris was too famous, too powerful and his reputation made him untouchable." The jury was told that Mr Harris, who denies all charges, wrote a letter to the girl’s parents years later, apologising for her experiences but claiming he was unaware of how she felt, and maintaining their relationship only occurred when she was older.
Addressing a packed courtroom, Ms Wass said Harris was "an immensely talented man" who excelled in art, music and children's entertainment. He painted a picture of the Queen in 2005 to commemorate her 80th birthday, before being made a CBE the following year. Using a hearing loop to follow proceedings, Mr Harris, 84, appeared relaxed as he faced the 12 counts of indecent assault against four victims spanning three decades between 1968 and 1986.
It was his fame and reputation that meant he was able to carry out "brazen" sexual assaults, often when other people were present or nearby, she said. In a packed courtroom, with his obviously frail wife Alwen Hughes in attendance, Mr Harris looked on as Sasha Wass QC opened the case  for the prosecution by saying the 84-year-old had a “Jekyll and Hyde” character. She added that his “darker side” was “sexually attracted to children and underage girls”.
Ms Wass said: "The prosecution does not, for a minute, suggest that there is not a good, talented and kind side to Mr Harris. The Crown went on to argue that Mr Harris, who painted a picture for the Queen to celebrate her 80th birthday in 2005 before being made a CBE the following year, used his considerable reputation to hide the assaults on four children and young girls.
"But, concealed behind this charming and amicable children's entertainer, lay a man who exploited the very children who were drawn to him. “Concealed behind this charming and amicable children’s entertainer lay a man who exploited the very children who were drawn to him,” Ms Wass said. The court then heard how his alleged victims were aged between seven or eight and 19 when the “brazen” offences were said to have taken place. The abuse, which included groping, fondling and “digital penetration”, was described in detail.
"There is a Jekyll and Hyde nature to Rolf Harris and this dark side of Rolf Harris was obviously not apparent to all of the other people he met during the course of his work, and it was not apparent to those who may want to testify to his good character." The prosecution went on to detail how the star was known as “the octopus” at an Australian TV channel due to the way he touched women inappropriately. Ms Wass said that the defendant’s alleged victims were “overawed” at meeting him, adding that he was “too powerful” for them to report his alleged crimes.
The prosecutor said it was "a side of him which is sexually attracted to children and under-age girls" and "a side which gave him the confidence to molest girls knowing that they could not object and, even if they did, nobody would believe them". He had arrived in court yesterday accompanied by two security guards, his wife, and his daughter Bindi, who the jury heard was a childhood friend of one of the accusers. The alleged victim had travelled with the family on a holiday.
She said the court would hear from an employee from Australian television that Rolf Harris's reputation was such that he was known as 'the octopus' because of the way that he would put his hands all over women." It was against this alleged victim, who lived near the family home, that seven of the 12 alleged counts are said to have been carried out. However, Mr Harris cannot be charged with alleged assaults that happened abroad before 1997.
Harris, sitting in the dock wearing a grey suit, white shirt and multi-coloured tie, listened intently to the proceedings through a hearing loop as the prosecution case was outlined. She had allegedly been molested and groomed by Mr Harris from that holiday “like a young puppy”, and according to medical reports became a “full-blown alcoholic within a few years”.
His wife Alwen and other members of his family sat listening in the public gallery alongside dozens of UK and international journalists. Later she sought treatment before telling her parents of Mr Harris’s alleged assault. In a letter to this victim’s father in 1997, Mr Harris said he was in a state of “self-loathing” and felt “sickened” by the misery he had caused her.
Ms Wass told the court that eight alleged victims will give evidence, four of whom are the subject of charges on the indictment, and the others supporting witnesses. During a police interview in 2012 Mr Harris allegedly said he “categorically” denied having had sexual contact with the complainant while she was under the age of 16, though did admit a later “consensual sexual relationship” when she was an adult.
"The chances of so many people making up similar false allegations are just ludicrous," she told jurors. During a later interview he went on to detail claims that in 1994 she had written asking for £25,000 to “set up an animal sanctuary”. The court went on to hear the details of alleged assaults relating to three other charges. These included a woman who claims Mr Harris groped her when she was eight years old and a woman who said he groped her during an It’s a Knockout celebrity event in Cambridge when she was 14 in the 1970s.
She went on to outline allegations made by one of the victims, who was allegedly groomed like "a young puppy who had been trained to obey". The final three counts of indecent assault refer to an alleged victim who was part of an Australian theatre company which visited the UK in 1986. She claims she met Mr Harris at a dinner, and that he rubbed his penis against her and touched her vagina.
The alleged victim, who is the subject of seven of the counts, claims she was abused by Harris, first while on holiday when she was 13 and then continuing over 15 years. “The chances of so many people making up similar false allegations are just ludicrous,” Ms Wass told jurors.
Ms Wass said: "You will hear during the course of this case other instances where Mr Harris touched children and women alike in quite brazen circumstances. The case continues.
"It may be that that was part of the excitement, knowing that he could do that and get away with it." Rolf Harris wrote to the father of one of his alleged victims in March 1997, asking for forgiveness:
It is alleged that the girl's parents trusted Harris, so did not suspect him. Please forgive me for not writing sooner. You said in your letter to me that you never wanted to see me or hear from me again, but now [the alleged victim] says it’s all right to write to you.
"Rolf Harris was a pillar of society, a well-respected man and somebody who was well known for being fond of children," Ms Wass said. Nothing took place in a physical way until we had moved to Highlands. I think about 1983 or 84 was the first time.
On one occasion, it is alleged, Harris gave the teenager oral sex as another girl slept in the same room. When I see the misery I have caused [the alleged victim] I am sickened by myself. You can’t go back and change things that you have done in this life – I wish to God I could.
Ms Wass said: "[The alleged victim] thought that it was as though the risk of doing this so near to [the other girl] was exciting him." I find it hard to like myself in any way, shape or form. And as I do these Animal programmes, I see the unconditional love that dogs give to their owners and I wish I could start to love myself again.
The jury was told: "He never treated her as an equal or a human being. He never had a meaningful conversation with her. She felt, as I said to you, that she was his little toy. If there is any way I could atone for what I have done I would willingly do it. If there is a way I can start to help [the alleged victim] to heal herself, I would willingly do it.
"As a result of this grooming process, [the alleged victim] had become completely compliant." I know that what I did was wrong but we are, all of us, fallible and oh how I deluded myself. Please forgive me, love Rolf.
The court was told that eventually the woman - whose alleged experiences at the hands of Harris led to her becoming an alcoholic - told her parents, prompting her father to write a letter to Harris.
In a reply, thought to have been sent in March 1997, the artist allegedly confessed to having a sexual relationship with the woman, but denied it started when she was 13.
In the letter, he is said to have described being in a state of "self-loathing" and feeling "sickened" by himself for the misery he had caused her.
"You can't go back and change things that you have done in this life - I wish to god I could," he wrote.
He went on: "As I do these animal programmes, I see the unconditional love that dogs give to their owners and I wish I could start to love myself again.
"If there is any way that I could atone for what I have done, I would willingly do it. If there is any way I can start to help [the alleged victim] heal herself, I would willingly do it."
He apologised to the man for betraying his trust and added: "I know that what I did was wrong but we are, all of us, fallible and oh how I deluded myself. Please forgive me, love Rolf."
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