Rolf Harris faces indecent assault trial

Rolf Harris is set to face seven accusers in a London court during a trial lasting several weeks to determine whether he is guilty of indecent assault.

Rolf Harris is set to face trial in a London court on charges of indecently assaulting women and girls between 1971 and 2005.

The jury is expected to be empanelled on Monday at Southwark Crown Court where the 86-year-old entertainer will face seven accusers in a trial set down for four or more weeks.

In what is believed to be a legal first in the UK, Harris has been granted leave by Judge Alistair McCreath to appear by video link on the grounds of his age and state of health.

Harris has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of indecent assault and one alternative charge of sexual touching.

The offences were allegedly committed between 1971 and 2004 and relate to seven female complainants aged between 12 and 27 at the time.

Three of the charges relate to alleged indecent assaults on girls aged under 14 and one relates to an alleged indecent assault on a disabled woman outside a London hospital in 1977.

Two of the charges relate to alleged offences against a girl and a woman at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane in west London in 1983 and in 2004.

Harris is also accused of molesting under-age girls at the Lyceum Theatre in London's Covent Garden in 1971 and outside a radio station in Portsmouth in 1977.

The Australian-born singer, artist and TV host, known for his songs Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport and Jake the Peg, became a hugely popular entertainer in the UK and was commissioned to paint the Queen's portrait for her 80th birthday.


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Source: AAP



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