We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
ROLF HARRIS HAS applied for permission to appeal against his convictions for a string of sex offences.
The 84-year-old Australian-born Harris was found guilty on 30 June of 12 indecent assaults against four girls, including an eight-year-old autograph hunter and a close friend of his daughter.
Harris, who had been a fixture on British television for decades, was jailed for five years and nine months for the offences, which took place between 1968 and 1986.
Appeal
A spokesman for the Judicial Office confirmed that Harris’ lawyers had lodged a request with the Court of Appeal this week for permission to lodge an appeal.
A judge will now decide whether the artist and television star will be allowed to make a full challenge against his convictions.
The move to challenge the convictions comes days after a decision to uphold Harris’ jail sentence, despite criticism that it was too lenient.
Attorney General Jeremy Wright, the government’s chief legal advisor, received 150 complaints asking for a review, but announced on Wednesday that the jail term would not be challenged.
The guilty verdicts caused widespread revulsion in Britain, where Harris was beloved to generations of children as a family-friendly popular entertainer, and in his homeland of Australia.
The disgraced artist was made a CBE in 2006 — one step below a knighthood — and even painted a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the monarch’s 80th birthday.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Is their no end to this creatures torment of his victims.
Hope he gets it then if he loses, his sentence has a good chance of being increased.
He should take his punishment like a man and get on with it, he should be embarrassed about appealing trying to get a shorter sentence for the disgusting crimes he committed.
Oh Why can’t he just be left there to rot.
Twisted bast#*d.
Most of these pedophiles think they’re above the law, well actually most are, especially the ones in the Royal Family and British political establishment.
I hope he dies in prison the dirty tramp. He showed no remorse fought the case the whole way. Hope he drops the soap and he gets a dose of his own medicine.
The evidence against Harris:
Victim 1:
made a claim that she was twice briefly touched inappropriately at an packed autograph signing event in 1967 or 1968 at the age of 7 or 8 at a community centre at her home town in Gloucestershire. She was a member of a sexual abuse support group who came forward only after Mr. Harris was named in the media.
Police examined local newspaper archives between 1967 and 1974, council records and wrote letters to all households in her town appealing for witnesses but no corroborating evidence was found that Mr Harris ever visited the town.
VERDICT: GUILTY / SENTENCE: Nine months
Victim 2:
claimed Mr Harris groped her bottom in 1975 at a Celebrity Sports event in Cambridge. The victim, who has now gone public, is says she “very surprised he was found guilty”. Mr Harris was found guilty of groping her in 1978 when she was 16 at “Star Games”, a charity sports show. However, she appeared to change her recollection of the assault in a later TV interview.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28156387
VERDICT: GUILTY / SENTENCE: 6 months
Victim 4, Tonya Lee:
She was over AU$13,000 in depth when she sold her story of Mr Harris groping her in a pub on Theatre Group trip to the UK in 1986 with the help of her agent Max Martin, to a TV station and news paper for £33,000. Her chaperone Cathy Henkel said she did not see or remember anything untoward happening on the night and she did not at first believe Tonya. She only remembers it being a great evening and Mr. Harris was kind and helpful (they struck up a friendship after the trip). She now believes her friend after meeting her in London and talking bout the assault.
Victim 3:
Then there’s Binti’s friend (called Victim 3 in the court case). Her case is the strongest.
Seven of the 12 charges related to a childhood friend of Harris’s daughter Bindi between the ages of 13 and 19. Mr Harris claimed they had a consensual affair when she was an adult, the court seems to agree on this, that began when she was 18 or 19 (in 1986 or 87) and it ended 10 or 11 years later. According to Binty (Mr. Harris’ daughter) she uncovered the affair after suspecting Mr. Harris was having an affair with his Spiritual healer and confronted him OR according to the victim, she admitted she was abused by Harris after she was confronted over excessive drinking by her parents. Victim 3 did summon Mr Harris to her parents home where she confronted him over the abuse.
Mr. Harris then wrote a letter apologising to her father for affair in which he denied “rape” and forcing her into sex, claiming that the affair started when she was an adult. She made formal complaint in 2012. There was also some damning evidence in the form of a card from Mr Harris that appeared to demean the victim.
During the trial it was claimed by Mr Harris that she tried to Blackmail him, asking for £25,000 for a bird sanctuary. However, she said she asked Mr. Harris for £30,000 for the bird sanctuary and it was not blackmail
VERDICT: GUILT / SENTENCE: approx. 4 years
Child Porn claims:
Before the trail there was allegations that Child porn was found on Mr Harris’ computer, this involved a handful of alleged under-age images amongst a large trove of vanilla adult port. However, the identity documents of the models in question were obtained, proving all models were adults over 18. Mr Harris was not in possession of CP and the charges were dropped.
Bad Character Evidence:
There were a number of other women who alleged incidences of inappropriate touching, aggressive behaviour standing too close in a shop, making a lewd remark etc. during the trial. However, they occurred before legislation was enacted to hold people accountable for crimes that occurred abroad, thus Mr. Harris was not tried over these allegations. This “bad character” evidence can be valuable in cases like this where allegations can go back decades and involve the words of two people.
However, many defence lawyers and civil libertarians have grave concerns about this kind of evidence. They argue that juries should only hear evidence relating to the specific charges being heard against an accused.
Bad character evidence is not allowed in most court systems, the UK has one of the most permissive systems in this regard. It is argued that it can lead to Moral Prejudice, where the Jury dislikes a defendant so much they convict him on all counts regardless of evidence, and Reasoning Prejudice, where they think they see a pattern where there is none and convict on all apparently similar cases.
http://thejusticegap.com/2014/07/rolf-harris-jurors-heavy-prejudice/
Tonya Lee: VERDICT: GUILTY / SENTENCE:
Count 10: Assaulting Australian woman Tonya Lee, who was 15, in 1986 – Nine months
Count 11: Same victim as count 10 – Nine months
Count 12: Same victim as count 10 – 12 months
Doesn’t seem like a particularly strong case…
Just go away Rolf you shatters enough lives do your time and die
He will be blowing more than didgeridoos
Won’t get a chance. Those type, are not that popular with “ordinary decent criminals”
He’ll do as he’s told and treated like one of his victims. Well, hopefully.
Let him have hope that his appeal will succeed then refuse it completely.
I’d say he knows now what some of the pets on Animal Hospital felt like: every orifice remorselessly probed without regard for personal privacy.
What a spineless b@stard.
He showed no mercy to his victims. He’s already going to get the holiday camp treatment in prison now he wants that shortened. What planet is he on?
I think he has been very harshly treated the evidence is weak and circumstantial , he is a good person at heart and these people are out for money. In fact it is only because of the whole jimmy Savile case that they came down so hard on him. Rolf is innocent.
Larry David the 2nd, the 2nd what? He was found guilty in a court of law you Bell End, your probably a closet “do ye know what it is yet” dick, absolute moran, bet your still a virgin
The Guildford four and many others were found guilty in a court of law I have my opinion whilst you are a bit like your name ” Gormlress” btw I am reporting your comment I don’t have to read your insults and downright ignorance. Enjoy your ban .
Larry, Larry, Larry just in case you change your mind and read my posts I see in your blind rage you have elected yourself as judge and jury, IDIOT
Get a life if you have been abused in those days people trusted the police & authority & most of the Catholic Church look at that situation?
Anyone else notice how much he looks like a rapist Colonel Sanders?
This appeal will probably be turned down unless there is new evidence. I do find it intresting though that few people have problems paying to see Polanski films or those with Mike Tyson. I guess outrage is proportional to the good standing in which a person was previously held . Harris should have gotten 10 years imho without parole.
I bet he will get out because he knows the right people in power
Was he English or Australian
He is Australian, from Perth. But he spent a considerable amount of time living in both New Zealand and England.
Sick freak probably had an orgy with all the animals
Let him appeal and if it fails give him a stiffer sentence.
Do you know what it is yet ” hey love it’s my co(k”
We all trusted people like him now look at the result?
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say