The jury in the Rolf Harris trial has started an eighth day of deliberations in London as the entertainer’s senior defence barrister reappeared in court after being hospitalised almost three weeks ago.
Jurors have been considering their verdicts in the complex child sex abuse case for 34 hours in total.
As they returned to Southwark Crown Court on Monday morning, Justice Nigel Sweeney told them there was good news with Harris’s senior lawyer, Sonia Woodley QC, back from illness.
“You will see Ms Woodley is restored to us,” the judge said.
Ms Woodley earlier apologised for being absent during the later stages of the eight-week trial.
The defence closing address was delivered in her absence a fortnight ago by junior counsel Simon Ray.
Justice Sweeney on Friday told the jury: “You are not, and must not, feel under any pressure of time or other extraneous pressure at all.”
Harris, 84, is waiting for news at court supported by his wife, Alwen, daughter Bindi Nicholls, and a small group of other family and friends.
The former television presenter is charged with 12 counts of indecent assault against four girls in the UK between 1968 and 1986. The Australian’s main accuser is a childhood friend of Bindi’s.
She claims Harris abused her from the age of 13, but he insists the pair had a 10-year consensual affair that started after she turned 18.
Another six women gave supporting evidence during the trial that Harris abused them in Australia, New Zealand and Malta between 1969 and 1991.
The star denies touching any of the women inappropriately. Harris told the court in late May: “They are all making it up.”
Justice Sweeney has asked for unanimous verdicts at this stage.
