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It has been confirmed that convicted paedophile Rolf Harris has died aged 93. It’s unclear when the disgraced star passed away with no official comment from his family at the time of publication.
The news was first reported by the Mirror after three neighbours on the estate where Harris lived in Bray, Berks, confirmed to the publication that he had died either Wednesday morning or Tuesday evening.
A fourth person added that he had seen a sudden influx of carers into Harris’ mansion around a week ago. A residents’ WhatsApp group also allegedly wished Rolf “RIP” in messages.
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One neighbour told the Mirror on Thursday: “People around here were very conscious of what happened last time (when the Mirror revealed Rolf had walked into a local schoolyard) so they wanted it to remain quiet until all the members of his family and close friends learned about it.”
She said she was told by a mutual friend Wednesday morning that Rolf had died. The Mirror also reported that Harris was ill last year with neck cancer and was unable to talk but the neighbour, a friend of Harris’, said she last spoke to him about six months ago and he was able to speak.
“I know he has been ill for some time. He used to be out in his garden from time to time.”
She said he was the “life and soul” of residents’ street parties. Carers were still seen coming and going from the property today and yesterday.
Harris’ wife Alwen is believed to still be in the home and bedridden with illness. Harris was said to be “gravely ill” and receiving round-the-clock care from nurses and carers on a daily basis before his death.
In October, neighbour Portia Wooderson told Australian paper The Daily Telegraph: “Only carers and nurses, who care for him 24 hours, come and go. I’m told he can’t eat anymore.”
Author William Merritt previously confirmed Harris was “gravely sick” and claimed it was difficult to understand him when he communicates.
He told the Mirror: “As far as his health goes, yes, he is very ill. But, Rolf keeps going. He’s still around but he’s not well at all.”
The former TV favourite was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to five years and nine months in jail for 12 indecent assaults on four underage girls between 1968 and 1986. He was released from prison in 2017 – part-way through a re-trial on four accusations of indecent assault.
In November 2017, he appeared at the Court of Appeal in London to try and overturn his convictions and had one overturned. However, the other 11 convictions remain. Rolf reportedly hired a private investigator, who was said to be gathering “dirt” to discredit his victims. But, in 2019, it was reported the disgraced TV personality had decided to abandon the bid to clear his name.
Since his conviction, he had kept an incredibly low profile. In 2019, a neighbour reported Harris’ health had “declined rapidly” and was said to only leave the house with a carer. In 2020, he was seen taking his dog for a walk in clothes marked with stains and dirt as he hobbled along with the aid of a walking stick.
In a statement for William Merritt’s 2022 book Rolf Harris: The Defence Team’s Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials , Harris said: “I understand we live in the post-truth era and know few will want to know what really happened during the three criminal trials I faced – it’s easier to condemn me and liken me to people like Saville and Glitter.
“I was convicted of offences I did not commit in my first trial. That is not just my view but the view of the Court of Appeal who overturned one of my convictions. I had already served the prison sentence by the time of the appeal. I changed my legal team after the first trial, and I was told that if the truth was out there, William (Merritt) would find it and he did. The evidence he found proved my innocence to two subsequent juries.
“I’d be in prison serving a sentence for crimes I did not commit if it were not for William’s investigation. It is difficult to put into words the injustice that I feel.”
Harris was born in Perth, Australia, and was a junior champion in backstroke as a schoolboy. By the time he was old enough to compete in the Olympics, he had more interest in art so he cut short his promising career as a professional swimmer.
He moved to the UK when he was 22 and lived in Bray, Berkshire before his death. He worked on TV programmes drawing animations before launching his musical career. He wrote Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport in 1957 which entered the top 10 in the Australian, UK and U.S. music charts.
Throughout the 50s and 60s his TV career continued to grow both in the UK and Australia while his music career also flourished. In December 1963 he sang an altered version of Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport with the Beatles. In 1969 he had a number-one hit with Two Little Boys which spent six weeks at the top of the charts in the UK.
In the 70s and 80s he continued to perform on stage and hosted a variety of TV programmes, while in 1993 he appeared at his first of seven Glastonbury gigs. Throughout the 2000s he performed for high-profile people including playing the didgeridoo for George Bush and painted the Queen in 2006 for her 80th birthday.
The painting was unveiled at the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace and publicly displayed there from 2005 to 2006. Harris was sentenced in June 2014 to five years and nine months in jail for 12 indecent assaults on four teenage girls between 1968 and 1986.
He was released on parole in May 2017 after spending three years in jail.
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