Writer backs Harris's Cambridge claims

Claims by Rolf Harris that it would be possible to forget where he took part in TV celebrity sporting events has been backed by a fellow participant.

Entertainer Rolf Harris

Rolf Harris has admitted he may have sexually admired his daughter's friend when she was 13. (AAP)

British broadcaster and writer Sue Cook has backed a claim by Rolf Harris that it would be possible to forget exactly where they participated in a TV celebrity sporting event.

Ms Cook and Harris appeared in different episodes of Star Games in the late 1970s.

The jury in Harris's child sex abuse trial on Monday was shown newly-uncovered footage of the entertainer participating in Star Games at Jesus Green in Cambridge in 1978.

The footage emerged days after Harris had told Southwark Crown Court he couldn't have indecently assaulted a teenage girl in Cambridge in the mid-1970s because he hadn't visited the university city until three or four years ago.

"I was in Cambridge but I didn't know it was Cambridge," Harris said on Monday.

"We all went on a bus to get there. We were deposited on the green."

Ms Cook saw a news report of Harris's evidence and told her husband it "wasn't fair" because she couldn't remember the location the show was filmed either.

She tweeted: "I was one of the participants in that Star Games show in 1978. I must say I have no memory of where it took place."

In court on Thursday, Ms Cook admitted she hadn't actually appeared in the same episode as Harris but rather a number of the shows filmed elsewhere in 1979.

But she backed Harris's claim that participants were taken to a hotel outside the relevant city or town and then bussed to a recreation ground.

The former TV star said she couldn't remember the location "where many of them were".

"Where it was, was irrelevant," Ms Cook said.

"The city or town itself was immaterial." However, under cross-examination by prosecutor Sasha Wass QC, Ms Cook agreed that at the time "you'd know roughly the direction you were going in" and where you ended up.

The broadcaster agreed she wouldn't "swear blind" in a court of law - as Harris did - that she'd hadn't been somewhere. Rather, she'd likely say she had no memory of it, but it could have happened.

Earlier on Thursday, Australian entertainer Kerrie Robson gave evidence via videolink from Australia.

She toured Malaysia and the Sinai with Harris in 1983 where they performed for the troops.

Ms Robson, who was 22 at the time, told the jury: "I never, ever felt uncomfortable in his presence. He was almost like a father figure to me, looking after me on the tour."

Ms Robson said Harris would make sure she'd eaten and had enough rest. He hugged her and everyone else but she never felt uneasy.

The pair went swimming together in the Red Sea, the court was told.

Harris wore brown pyjamas because he got sunburnt easily and again, Ms Robson said, she never felt uncomfortable.

Harris is charged with indecently assaulting four girls in the UK between 1968 and 1986. The 84-year-old denies all 12 counts.

The trial continues.


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Source: AAP



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