Rolf Harris, who entertained generations of British and Australian children with his incredible range of skills and was later jailed for sexual assaults on teenage girls, is dead at 93.
He arrived in London in 1952, aged 21, and went on to host a string of children's TV and variety shows as well as series about animals and art. Harris painted a portrait of the late Queen to mark her 80th birthday in 2006. Harris was also well known for a number of hit songs, including Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport; Two Little Boys and a cover of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven.
Harris was an OBE, MBE and CBE and the recipient of a Bafta fellowship, but was stripped of these honors following his convictions.
Due to the magnitude of competition from British celebrity pedophiles and his ultimate exoneration on charges relating to pre-teens and indecent child images, there was a tendency in UK media to talk about Harris as if he was the victim of a witch hunt . Unlike blatant monsters such as Sir Jimmy Saville, he was well-loved and genuinely talented. But he committed many crimes against minors, served only a modest jail term, and about the rest of his victims, as young as 14, there was no significant legal controversy.
Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, Harris was initially found guilty of 12 attacks on four girls, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s.
One conviction, relating to an allegation he indecently assaulted an eight-year-old girl, was later overturned. But Court of Appeal judges dismissed his application to challenge the other 11 convictions.
The victims included two girls in their early teens and a friend of his daughter.
Here's Vanessa Feltz talking about him groping her on live TV in 1996.
