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Rolf Harris admits secret affair shows his darker side in cross-examination Rolf Harris admits secret affair shows his darker side in cross-examination
(about 4 hours later)
Rolf Harris has admitted to a court that the fact he conducted a long-running secret affair with a young friend of his daughter shows his amiable showbusiness exterior conceals a darker private side. Rolf Harris has admitted to a court that a lengthy and secretive affair with a much younger friend of his daughter reveals a "darker side" to his entertainer's exterior. He described the relationship with the woman 35 years his junior as little more than "sex with no frills".
During a morning of rigorous cross-examination at Southwark crown court, the Australian-born entertainer also conceded it was possible he viewed one of his alleged victims in a sexual way when she was 13, while repeatedly denying any sexual contact with the girl, 35 years his junior, until five years later. The 84-year-old artist and television performer spent a sometimes testing five hours being cross-examined on details of the relationship, in notable contrast to his first day of evidence, where he regaled before the jury he impersonated a wobble board and performed a brief rendition of his song Jake the Peg.
Facing questions from Sasha Wass QC, for the prosecution, Harris confirmed he had kept the relationship from his family and friends for many years. Answering questions from Sasha Wass QC, Harris repeatedly told Southwark crown court that the first sexual contact took place when the woman was 18, rather than 13 as she has testified. He nonetheless admitted that he kept the affair from his daughter, Bindi, and wife, Alwen, for many years, and that a "furious" Bindi smashed two of his paintings when she eventually learned what had happened.
Referring to Harris's initial testimony on Tuesday, when he had impersonated a wobble board and briefly sung Jake the Peg, Wass said: "This case, as you know, is not a talent show. This case is about whether, under your friendly and lovable exterior, there is a darker side lurking. You know that, don't you?" The trial was, Wass told Harris, not a showcase for his performances: "This case is about whether, under your friendly and lovable exterior, there is a darker side lurking. You know that, don't you?"
She pressed Harris on whether his private and public faces were different. He replied: "I suppose so." Wass pressed Harris on whether his private and public faces were different. He replied: "I suppose so."
Wass continued: "You are pretty good, Mr Harris, aren't you, at disguising that dark side of your character?" She continued: "You are pretty good, Mr Harris, aren't you, at disguising that dark side of your character?" He replied: "Yes."
He replied: "Yes." The alleged victim, whose claims form seven of the 12 counts of indecent assault against Harris, says he first groped her on a holiday, also complimenting her on how she looked in a bikini. Wass asked if commenting on a 13-year-old's appearance in swimwear was a remark with a sexual overtone. Harris replied: "In hindsight, I suppose it is." The barrister pressed the star on whether he had admired the girl's body. He said: "It's possible, yes."
The alleged victim, a friend of Harris's daughter, Bindi, has told the court the entertainer, now 84, sexually abused her from the age of 13, beginning when she was on holiday in the late 1970s. Neither she nor any of the other alleged victims can be named. Wass said: "Once we work out that you did see [the alleged victim] in a sexual light on that holiday, everything that she says becomes realistic." He responded: "Not as far as I'm concerned, because it never happened."
Harris rejected this account of events – at one point he said: "She said all sorts of things which if they weren't so serious would have been laughable" – but agreed he complimented the girl on the holiday about looking good in a bikini. Wass asked Harris at length about the eight occasions he says the pair had sexual contact, spanning from when she was 18 to 29. The entertainer conceded that he barely spoke to the woman during that time, recounting just one chat when he sought to cover evidence of their relationship.
Wass asked if this constituted a remark with a sexual overtone. Harris replied: "In hindsight, I suppose it is." The barrister pressed the artist and television star on whether he had admired the 13-year-old's body on the holiday. He said: "It's possible, yes." "Ten years, and the only conversation you can recall is about cleaning your sperm from the sheets. It wasn't a deep relationship, was it?" Wass asked. "I don't suppose it was," Harris replied.
Wass told Harris: "Once we work out that you did see [the alleged victim] in a sexual light on that holiday everything that she says becomes realistic." He responded: "Not as far as I'm concerned, because it never happened." Asked to characterise the relationship, Harris said: "It was sex with no frills, now and again, when the opportunity arose."
The court has heard how many years later, during the 1990s, Harris was confronted by the alleged victim's family after she told them Harris had groped her when she was 13. Questioned about this by Wass, Harris said it never occurred to him then that such allegations could lead to police action. Harris said he believed the alleged victim told Bindi about the affair during the 1990s. His daughter confronted him about it when he returned from a trip abroad, he said. "She had a huge row with me about the affair. I believe she started the conversation, but I can't remember. I blanked it out of my mind."
"I didn't think of that at the time, no," he replied. Pressed on whether he knew at the time that sexual activity with a child was illegal, Harris replied: "I don't think people knew much about that at the time. I don't think so, no." Harris added: "When I came back, she'd smashed a couple of paintings I'd given her. She was absolutely furious."
The court heard later that Harris at one point in his career made an educational video about child protection with the NSPCC. He denied he had coached Bindi, scheduled to be a defence witness, to say the relationship started at 18. However, he agreed with Wass's characterisation of his daily arrival at the court with Alwen and Bindi as "a show" for the cameras. Harris said: "Yes it is. To show support."
Harris told the court that his first sexual experience with the alleged victim happened when she was 18 and staying at his home. Over the next 11 years, he said, they had about six sexual encounters, but barely spoke otherwise. The court has heard how Harris was confronted by the alleged victim's family in the 1990s after she told them about the alleged abuse. Harris told the court that he was not certain then that sexual activity with someone so young was illegal, saying: "I don't think people knew much about that at the time."
Wass put it to him: "This wasn't a friendship – she was just there for sex on your account." He replied: "It would seem so." But he dismissed the alleged victim's claims, saying: "She said all sorts of things which, if they weren't so serious, would have been laughable."
However, led by Wass through the various allegations he faces – he is charged with 12 indecent assaults on four women, while six other woman make similar claims that are not subject to formal counts – Harris insisted the alleged victims were lying. "They're all making it up," he said. Nonetheless, Harris said, while he did nothing illegal, he was not proud of the relationship. "It was a mutual affair. She consented to everything we did. In moral terms, I had certainly not been the whitest of white and pure."
Asked about the testimony of the main alleged victim's mother, a former family friend of Harris, the entertainer said she must be lying too: "I think she is possibly supporting her daughter's story." Such was the shame, he added, that his first statement to police last year omitted to mention the sexual contact when the woman was 18, as he was too embarrassed to explain it in front of "two very attractive young ladies among the lawyers' chambers".
Wass pointed out the similarities between many of the allegations, saying: "It's all a lie, you say, but it's all the same lie." Led by Wass through the various claims he faces – 12 counts of indecent assault involving four women, and similar allegations from six other women which involve no formal charges – Harris insisted the alleged victims were lying. "They're all making it up," he said.
Harris, who lives in Bray, Berkshire, denies 12 counts of indecent assault, seven of which relate to his daughter's friend. The other claims cannot be prosecuted because they allegedly happened outside the UK before the date at which offences overseas could be prosecuted in Britain. Wass pointed out the similarities between many of the claims, saying: "It's all a lie, you say, but it's all the same lie."
During a break from Harris's evidence, which continues on Thursday, the court heard from another defence witness, Paul Elliott, a theatre producer known as "the king of pantomime". Elliott said Harris had appeared in 11 of his pantomimes over 15 years in casts full of children and young women, without one complaint being made. Harris was prone to hugging people, Elliott said, but only in "a warm, cuddly, friendly way".
Harris, who lives in Bray, Berkshire, denies all 12 counts of indecent assault. The other claims cannot be prosecuted because they allegedly happened outside the UK before the date at which offences overseas could be brought to trial in Britain.
The trial continues.The trial continues.