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Rolf Harris jury not told about other claims

The jury in Rolf Harris’s child sex abuse trial, in which he was found guilty of all 12 charges, didn’t get to hear from a further nine women who claim the entertainer harassed them, including one alleged victim who says she was groped on live TV.

Another potential witness claims she was working as a barmaid at a party for the broadcaster Michael Parkinson when Harris kissed her in front of his wife Alwen.

The prosecution wanted to call seven of the women as bad character witnesses alongside six others who did give evidence during the eight-week trial in London.

But most were ruled inadmissible during legal argument at Southwark Crown Court.

Justice Nigel Sweeney didn’t allow jurors to see footage of one English TV presenter who claimed Harris put his hand up her skirt while she was interviewing him live on air in the mid-1990s.

During pre-trial legal argument, prosecutor Sasha Wass QC said watching the footage it was clear from the woman’s reaction what was going on just out of shot.

In 2005, another woman was working as a barmaid at Berkshire pub where a party was being held for Parkinson.

Harris, in front of his wife, allegedly grabbed the young woman as she was clearing up and started kissing her.

A decade earlier, in the mid-1990s, the star attended a fete at Bray where he’s lived since the early 1980s.

He was allegedly in a tent signing autographs when he told a 13 or 14-year-old girl he liked her jumper and wanted to see what was under it.

In 1991, another potential bad character witness met Harris during an art class in Belfast when she asked if she could interview him for the BBC.

With children and a camera crew watching the artist allegedly pressed himself against her and stuck his tongue into her mouth.

“She felt disgusted and dirty and described him as opportunistic and predatory,” Ms Wass told the court during pre-trial legal argument.

In 2001, a 20-year-old woman who looked younger than that allegedly met Harris at an art competition at Kensington Olympia.

The celebrity pinched her bottom as they posed for a photograph, the court but not the jury heard.

She looked at him angrily, but he simply shrugged. A 24-year-old with psychological problems was allegedly abused in 1999 when she met Harris while on holiday with friends.

“In the villa he was staying in he came upon her in the garden, put his hand inside her skirt and touched her buttocks,” Ms Wass said.

“On another occasion he came to where she was staying, went into her room while she was having a nap and got into bed with her.”

The court heard he digitally penetrated her, performed oral sex on her and got her to do the same to him.

Finally, a woman says she met the Australian at a motel near Sydney in 1977.

She was 14 and Harris was visiting with fellow celebrity Harry Butler.

The alleged victim says the man who gave the world the wobble board touched her bottom and declared: “Rolfie deserves a cuddle.”

He subsequently followed her to a lift where he held her and touched her breast before she managed to escape.

The jurors further weren’t aware that during the trial two Australian DJs went public with allegations against Harris.

Former Perth radio host Jane Marwick claims the celebrity grabbed her breast in 2001 while posing for a photo after an interview.

At the time Ms Marwick thought it was “inappropriate behaviour by a grubby old man” but said if she’d known Harris allegedly abused people “of very tender years” she would have taken action.

Former ABC radio host Verity James also alleged Harris groped her in the late 1990s or early 2000s.

“He kind of pushes you up against a wall in a big hug, grabbing at the buttocks and rubbing on your breasts,” Ms James said in late May.

Harris on Monday was found guilty of indecently assaulting four women in the UK between 1968 and 1986. He was convicted on all 12 counts.

Another six witnesses gave supporting evidence during the trial that they were harassed in Australia, New Zealand and Malta between 1969 and 1991.