Alleged Rolf Harris victim claims paedophile entertainer left her ‘shattered’ and took away ‘any question of consent’ in documentary detailing his abuses which left viewers raging that he ‘wasn’t jailed for longer’
- Shocking witness statement of BBC reporter laid bare impact of his crimes
One of Rolf Harris alleged victims revealed how the paedophile entertainer left her ‘shattered’ and took away ‘any question of consent’ in a new documentary detailing his abuses.
The shocking witness statement of BBC reporter Karen Gardiner laid bare the way in which the Australian-born presenter had gone from being a childhood favourite to taking away her sense of autonomy.
The allegations that he had assaulted her aged 16 did not have the necessary majority verdict for Harris to be found guilty.
She told the programme that she had gone forward with her story to support his other victims.
And viewers of the ITV documentary have been left furious that the TV presenter – who died earlier this year – was only put away for three years for his crimes.
Ms Gardiner said: ‘In the moments after he assaulted me – which he did three times – it dawned on me that the people around us were not seeing what I was seeing.
Rolf Harris (pictured) was found guilty on 12 counts of indecent assault, including one on an eight-year-old autograph hunter, two on girls in their early teens and a catalogue of abuse against his daughter’s friend over 16 years
The shocking witness statement of BBC reporter Karen Gardiner (pictured) laid bare the way in which the Australian-born presenter had gone from being a childhood favourite to taking away her sense of autonomy
The allegations that he had assaulted her aged 16 did not have the necessary majority verdict for Harris to be found guilty
‘He hurled aside any question of consent. He’d shattered a very young woman’s burgeoning sense of autonomy over her own body.
‘I’d watched him on TV for many hours, learnt the words to his songs, asked for his stylophone for Christmas.
‘It would never have occured to me or any other young woman not to trust him.’
Ms Gardiner said she had originally avoided coming forward with her story because she didn’t think her experience was as bad as others, and she was older than them when she was assaulted aged 16.
She told the programme he had assaulted her three times within 35 minutes ‘in plain sight’.
Harris claimed in court he had not been in Cambridge in answer to one of his accusations – and brave Ms Gardiner decided she had to get involved, leaving a message on the Operation Yewtree phoneline saying she could place him in the city.
She said: ‘It has all these implications all the way down your life because the man is always there.’
Harris was found guilty on 12 counts of indecent assault, including one on an eight-year-old autograph hunter, two on girls in their early teens and a catalogue of abuse against his daughter’s friend over 16 years.
The shocking documentary – which professed to tell the story of the women whose accusations led to the disgraced celebrity’s downfall – included the harrowing testimony of victims who waived their anonymity
Horrified viewers condemned the sick paedophile celebrity – saying he should have been jailed for far longer than his five year nine month sentence
READ MORE: ‘Yippee, thank God!’ Rolf Harris’ victims tell of their joy at his death – and recount the appalling abuse they endured – as the disgraced TV sex beast dies at the age of 93
Horrified viewers condemned the sick paedophile celebrity – saying he should have been jailed for far longer than his five year nine month sentence. He was released on parole in May 2017 after serving three years behind bars.
One raged: ‘Rolf Harris only served three years. You get more for burglary.’
A second – called Angela – added: ‘Rolf Harris was a total narcissist and sexual predator.
‘Three years was absolutely nothing. He should have perished in jail.
‘Abusing a 16-year-old blind girl exposed his evil, I cannot believe he was aquitted on ANY charges What the hell.’
Mike Andrews continued: ‘Don’t know why I’m watching the Rolf Harris programme. This stuff really upsets me.
‘Think I want to know what happened to spot others, if that makes sense.’
And a fourth fumed: ‘Five years? That c*** should have died in prison.’
Harris married his sculptor wife Alwen in March 1958 after meeting at art school. The couple have one daughter Bindi. Pictured: Harris arrives with daughter Bindi at Southwark Crown Court on May 9, 2014
Dr Lin Berwick MBE met Harris at Moorfields Eye Hospital for a radio show she was presenting
The shocking documentary – which professed to tell the story of the women whose accusations led to the disgraced celebrity’s downfall – included the harrowing testimony of victims who waived their anonymity.
Dr Lin Berwick MBE met Harris at Moorfields Eye Hospital for a radio show she was presenting.
The broadcaster – who is blind and has Cerebral Palsy Quadriplegia, partial deafness, and uses a wheelchair – claims the entertainer pinned her to her chair as he groped her.
‘When I met Rolf Harris I put my hand out to greet him and he said: “Has anyone ever told you you are a lovely looking woman?”
‘The more I tried to get away from him the more he pushed harder and harder on the seat that I was sitting on so I just couldn’t move.
‘I grabbed hold of his fingers and I bent his fingers right back and I said: “Now get your hands off me!”
‘Then he grabbed hold of my dark glasses, took them off my face and he went: “Ah, now I can really see your face.”
‘The dark glasses were the thing I hid behind. I felt very vulnerable and a bit lost.’
He was the face of British Paints for more than three decades before he was dumped by the brand when he was arrested in 2013
It understood Rolf Harris’ health took a turn for the worse after the sudden death of his beloved poodle earlier in 2022.
Harris married his sculptor wife Alwen in March 1958 after meeting at art school. The couple have one daughter Bindi.
Best known for hits Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport and Jake The Peg, as well as a string of children’s TV hits, Harris also famously painted the 80th birthday portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
He was the face of British Paints for more than three decades before he was dumped by the brand when he was arrested in 2013.
The following year, Harris was found guilty on 12 counts of indecent assault, and was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail.
Of the 12 convictions, one was overturned on appeal in November 2017, and a jury chose not to convict him in two additional cases in the same year.
After he was released on bail, the convicted paedophile, lived as reclusive life in the English village of Bray.
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