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Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris ‘under 24-hour care with neck cancer’ and ‘can’t eat anymore’
Published 18:29 4 Oct 2022 BST
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One author claimed Harris still turns into a "big kid again" when people walk in the room
Convicted paeodophile Rolf Harris is reportedly receiving 24-hour care as he battles neck cancer, neighbours claim. The disgraced Aussie entertainer, 92, was being found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault against four underage girls in 2014 - one aged just seven or eight. He was released from prison in 2017 after serving three years of his five years and nine month sentence. [caption id="attachment_362031" align="alignnone" width="1870"]
Rolf Harris in 1996 (Image: Getty)[/caption]
Harris was reportedly hospitalised while he was in prison after his diabetes got out of control, with his health reportedly declining again after his poodle died earlier this year.
Portia Wooderson, the musician's neighbour, told The Daily Telegraph: "Only carers and nurses, who care for him 24 hours, come and go. I’m told he can’t eat anymore."
Private investigator and author William Merritt said that, while it is difficult to understand what Harris is saying as a result of the cancer, he is "still the entertainer" and turns into a "big kid again" when people walk in the room.
"He’s an artistic type, and he’ll try to perform on cue, even when he’s unwell," the author said.
Harris lives in Berkshire with his 64-year-old wife Alwen Hughes, who has Alzheimer's disease.
In May 2017 he was formally cleared of four unconnected historical sex offences, which he had denied. Later the same year, one of the 12 indecent assault convictions was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
[caption id="attachment_362030" align="alignnone" width="2048"]
Rolf Harris leaves Southwark Crown Court on May 30, 2017 in London (Image: Getty)[/caption]
The 92-year-old has never publicly spoken out since being released from jail - though he did share a statement to go in Merritt’s book, 'Rolf Harris: The Defence Team’s Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials'.
Harris said: "I understand we live in the post truth era and know few will want to know what really happened during the three criminal trials I faced – it’s easier to condemn me and liken me to people like [Jimmy] Saville and [Gary] Glitter.
"I was convicted of offences I did not commit in my first trial. That is not just my view but the view of the Court of Appeal who overturned one of my convictions. I had already served the prison sentence by the time of the appeal.
"I changed my legal team after the first trial, and I was told that if the truth was out there, William [Merritt] would find it and he did. The evidence he found proved my innocence to two subsequent juries.
"I’d be in prison serving a sentence for crimes I did not commit if it were not for William’s investigation. It is difficult to put into words the injustice that I feel."
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