Rolf Harris appeals sex abuse convictions
Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris today (tues) launched his latest bid to challenge indecent sex assault convictions.
Harris, 87, renewed his application to have two previous convictions quashed at the Court of Appeal in central London.
The cartoonist, singer and TV presenter hired private investigators to track down key witnesses including police officers.
The ‘fresh evidence’ relates to the conflicting testimony of a young girl’s father who said he would not have allowed his daughter to attend a community centre in Portsmouth where Harris was said to have groped her.
Harris’ defence barrister Stephen Vullo QC said: ‘In my respectful submission this is classic fresh evidence – it is real and an issue that was not raised at trial.’
The latest proceedings before Lord Justice Treacy, Mrs Justice McGowan and the Recorder of Preston Judge Mark Brown, stem from his conviction and jailing in 2014.
The frail star sat in the public gallery at the Court of Appeal, scribbling notes on a piece of paper before the hearing after he arrived in a blacked-out Mercedes with family members.
Mr Vullo called retired detective superintendent Graham Piper and retired detective constable Peter Spencer who worked at the police station 50 yards from a community centre in Leigh Park, Portsmouth where Harris was said to have molested a young autograph hunter.
Both repeated their testimonies they gave at trial that they were not aware of Harris ever attending the community centre.
They said they would have known if he had so done because of the celebrity’s draw.
But under further cross examination from prosecutor Jonathan Rees, QC, they both admitted that Harris could have attended the centre, between 1968 and 1969, without their knowledge.
The victim’s father said he would have known if Harris was there at the time of the offence as it would have been ‘common gossip’ and he simply ‘would not allow her to go’ because of her age.
Mr Vullo said: ‘He has absolutely no motive to undermine this court – he is, in my submission, an honest witness.
‘It is possible, I suppose, that he [Harris] turned up to the centre and then disappeared without anyone knowing – or actually is the reality just blindingly obvious that he just never attended?’
Mr Rees said the submissions put forward by the defence do not add ‘to the weight of the evidence that was before the jury.’
Harris was convicted of 12 indecent assaults at Southwark Crown Court in June 2014 – on the eight-year-old autograph hunter, two teenage girls and abuse against his daughter’s friend over 16 years.
He was then stripped of his hat-trick of honours following those verdicts, including an MBE in 1968, an OBE in 1977 and a CBE in 2006 after he was jailed for five years and nine months.
A few months later he was found guilty he failed in an attempt to bring a challenge to a judge who refused his application for permission to appeal.
In May this year the former Animal Hospital presenter was formally cleared of unconnected historical sex offences which he had denied.
A second jury trying the shamed TV star over claims he molested three young female fans had been discharged after failing to reach verdicts.
He was released from HMP Stafford on 19 May after serving less than half the sentence.
The Australia-born artist insisted his convictions in 2014 left him ‘vulnerable’ to fake claims from liars looking to make a quick buck or a spot in the limelight.
Harris, formerly of Fishery Road, Bray, Maidenhead, Berks, is the highest profile celebrity to be tried under the Met’s Operation Yewtree probe, launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
The hearing continues.
ends
