Rolf Harris: Conviction, crimes and where is he now?

The programme arrived on ITVX on Thursday 18th May and the two-part film will look at the life of Harris from his rise to fame in the 1960s as he became a household name, to his crimes and eventual conviction.

In June 2014, Harris was convicted of 12 indecent assaults, with one later overturned. The charges primarily involved sexual misconduct against minors and young women, including a string of abuse against his daughter's friend over 16 years.

The two-part documentary will hear how that woman sought assistance from psychotherapist Chip Somers in the late 1990s due to an alcohol problem, before revealing "a huge secret that she was holding on to”.

The victim has given permission for the impact of her abuse to be told through her psychotherapist Chip Somers in the docuseries.

“She told me she had been sexually abused by Rolf Harris from the age of 13, and this went on for a number of years," Somer reveals.

“Her choice was to not say anything about it, but it caused her a lot of trauma and was instrumental in causing her to misuse alcohol as a way of anaesthetising that trauma... a momentary respite from having to carry that burden all the time.”

As the documentary airs, read on for everything you need to know about Rolf Harris including where he is now.

Who is Rolf Harris?

Rolf Harris was born on 30th March 1930. He was an Australian entertainer, who became famous for his work as a musician, singer, comedian, actor and TV personality. Harris often used instruments in his performances such as the didgeridoo and is credited with the invention of the wobble board.

Following his teenage years as a swimmer, Rolf began his entertainment career in the 195os, releasing several songs including Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport which became a top 10 hit in Australia, the UK and the US, and a UK chart-topping cover of Two Little Boys.

Harris became a successful television personality in the UK during the '60s and '70s, fronting shows such as Rolf's Cartoon Club and Animal Hospital. In 1985, he hosted the short educational film Kids Can Say No!, which warned children between the ages of five and eight how to avoid situations where they might be sexually abused.

Rolf Harris crimes and conviction

After the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal in 2012, Harris was arrested as part of Operation Yewtree, which was a British police investigation into sexual abuse allegations, mainly the abuse of children, against Savile and others.

Harris was questioned in May 2013 about historical allegations of sexual offences, but denied any wrongdoing and was bailed without charge.

He was arrested again in August 2013 and charged with nine counts of indecent assault from the 1980s, involving two girls between 14 and 16 years old, and four counts alleging production of indecent child images in 2012.

In July 2014, at the age of 84, Harris was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on 12 counts of indecent assault on four female victims during the 1970s and 1980s.

He did not stand trial over allegations that he had sexual photographs of children in a much larger collection of thousands of adult pornographic images, with Harris's legal team maintaining the entertainer accidentally accessed the images when he clicked on links from mainstream porn sites.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass QC told Southwark Crown Court: "In the light of the 12 unanimous convictions on the counts that Mr Harris faced, the Crown prosecution Service has decided that it is no longer in the public interest to proceed with a trial on these four charges."

Commenting on his sentence, Mr Justice Sweeney said to Harris: "You have shown no remorse for your crimes at all. Your reputation now lies in ruins, you have been stripped of your honours but you have no one to blame but yourself."

Harris served his sentence at HM Prison Stafford. He was released on 19th May 2017, after serving three years of his sentence of five years and nine months.

One count, that Harris indecently assaulted an eight-year-old girl in Portsmouth, was overturned as unsafe in 2017. Harris applied for permission to appeal against his convictions concerning the three remaining girls, but permission was refused.

Harris – who has consistently denied accusations of wrongdoing – has not spoken out publicly since his release from jail but released a statement in the 2022 book Rolf Harris: The Defence Team's Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials by William Merritt.

"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 Savile and [Gary] Glitter," Harris said.

"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."

Where is Rolf Harris now?

On Thursday 23rd May 2023, it was announced that Rolf Harris had died at the age of 93.

Following his conviction, Harris was stripped of many of the honours that he had been awarded during his career, and reruns of television programmes featuring Harris were pulled from broadcasting.

Since being released from jail, Harris had resided in his hometown of Bray, Berkshire.

Merritt had previously told MailOnline that he was gravely ill with neck cancer when he last saw him in 2023. He said: "Rolf has been very sick. When I saw him he was able to speak to me. He was with it, but he was obviously unwell."

Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight airs on ITVX on Thursday 18th May.

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