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ROLF HARRIS HAS been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for 12 counts of indecent assault.
The TV star was found guilty on Monday of the offences which occurred between 1968 and 1986 against four girls.
The youngest victim was aged seven or eight and the other four teenagers were between 14 and 19 at the time of the abuse.
The 84-year-old will serve about half of that time in jail and will be released on licence within three years.
Harris, who arrived at the court today with a striped suitcase, has been taken to Wandsworth jail.
During sentencing, the judge told him that his reputation was in ruins but that he had nobody to blame but himself.
Victim impact statements were read to the court today. BBC News reports how one said the abuse had a “catastrophic effect” on her, destroying her “childhood innocence”.
Harris’s lawyers argued today that because of his age (he is 84 years old), each day in prison will shorten his life.
Barrister Sonia Woodley said he was “already on borrowed time”. She also claimed that he had been punished by being publicly shamed and stripped of his various honours.
However, in his sentencing the judge was quite harsh on Harris, telling him that he caused one of his victims severe psychological harm and that he took advantage of his celebrity status.
He also noted that he showed no remorse towards his victims.
Images
Prosecutors revealed today they would not pursue allegations that Harris downloaded sexual images of children, saying it was “no longer in the public interest”.
During court arguments that can only now be reported, his lawyers had contested the age of models found in pornographic images found on his computer.
‘Grubby and disgusting’
Before the final sentencing, London’s Southwark Crown Court from another victim, one of his daughter Bindi’s childhood friends.
The abuse against her began when she was 13 and on holiday with the Harris family, and continued for a period of 16 years, prosecutors said.
“The attacks that happened have made me feel dirty, grubby and disgusting. The whole sordid saga has traumatised me,” the woman said in a statement read out by a lawyer.
Harris admitted having a sexual relationship with the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, but said it only began when she was an adult.
In mitigation, Woodley said that, with the exception of his daughter’s friend, all the assaults involved brief encounters and were “opportunistic rather than predatory”.
“There are two sides to him and it’s a fact that he has a good side to him,” she said.
Harris’s stature was once so great that he was made a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 2006 – one of the highest honours Queen Elizabeth II can bestow – and even painted the monarch’s portrait on her 80th birthday.
There was also revulsion at his spectacular fall from grace in Australia, the home country that he left at the age of 22 but which treated him as a national hero.
After the guilty verdict on Monday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was “gutted and dismayed”.
‘Dark side’
During the trial, Harris made the most of the charm that once enraptured viewers, singing his hit “Jake the Peg” and describing how he invented the “wobble board”, an instrument he used in his song “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport”.
But proceedings darkened when witnesses now in their 40s and 50s took the stand to describe how Harris assaulted them when they were children or teenagers.
Harris told the court he was good at disguising his “dark side” while prosecutors said he was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character.
Reports suggest the entertainer, known for hit songs such as “Two Little Boys”, could now be stripped of his CBE, while there is also the prospect of further charges.
Since Harris’s conviction, a dozen more women from Britain, Australia and New Zealand have made fresh allegations against him.
Additional reporting by AFP
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It really unfolded years ago when they opened their doors to Muslims.. Wherever they go they destroy and they demand . Don’t integrate at all… And they say we need this diversity lol no thanks..RIP to the innocent people murdered on their way to work today…
There has to be consequences for security forces across Europe.
There has to be consequences for the Politicians of Europe, The security forces are doing there jobs as well as they can but they have been completely hamstrung by the political classes.
Another excuse to bomb Syria now. Hundreds of innocent women and children will die because of airstrikes.
What do you suggest be done in Syria? Let ISIS run rampant and commit genocide on a few more groups and blow up more European cities? It’s sad that you see the deaths of 34 people just as something that will be an excuse for something else.
Well it won’t be men anyway cause the cowards all ran away to Europe
I suggest the west stop arming despots and fuelling wars in that region and others.
It’s pretty simple that this is a huge factor. The actions carried out now are short-sighted. Controlling the sell of arms is the only solution.
In one week last year Cameron held an arms fair at which the Saudis and others were present. Next week they’re carrying out air strikes in Syria and turning their back on refugees.
Why bomb syria? Bomb the ghettos of belgium, could even shell them no bother. Its chee. Purr!
There really is no cure for this except to intern all suspects and lean on the whole community of this religion. Sooner or later they will get fed up of it and out bombers because they can’t live their lives in peace like we can’t now!!!
You forgot 570 AD Mohammad born.
What do you mean??
So Pt pat its ok to kill hundreds of innocent people in Syria?
Who killed innocent people in Syria?
Ya the western world where they are all coming for shelter is to blame. A lot of these suicide bombers believe the best & most honorable way to enter paradise is as a martyr. They believe they will be rewarded there & they will eventually see their loved ones there. They have been told that Islam is the last revelation of their god. No other will come after it. They think Muhammed rode off to heaven on a winged horse & they ultimately believe we that are outside islam are all immoral. Now I don’t believe all Muslims are the same but these Islamofascist cannot be reasoned with. They cannot be negotiated with. They believe we should all be converted to Muslims or die. So the blame the west is just an over simplified version of events. Also Muslims kill more Muslims than anyone else. The drawing of the prophet muhammad is another serious incident that had nothing to do with non Muslims. It was Muslims that started the violence & drew some of the offensive pictures themselves to fuel the flames of violence. Dip stick you are a islamofascist apologist. You are part of the problem.
Any resolve we have ?? Anyway Emma guess we have to agree to disagree on this, I just believe the western world are to blame for all of this.
If your country is at war with another country, the last place you seek try to seek refuge is in the country that you are war at.
Its such a silly simplistic weak argument to say that we are responsible for the mess that the middle east is in.
Aptly named ‘dip stick’
Mjhint your a
knob, you know nothing, back to watching sky news with ya.
What a great comment ken hickey, hopefully your children aren’t as stupid
If I were you I’d learn to reply to his comment rather than start a new one before throwing around the stupid insult, just an observation.
have your say