'Rolf Harris was creepy, giving me hugs and tickles all over my body,' court told

 
Harris, 84, who denies 12 counts of indecent assault, arrives at court today
Kiran Randhawa13 May 2014
WEST END FINAL

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A friend of Rolf Harris’s daughter who accuses the veteran entertainer of abusing her today described him as “creepy and cringey”.

Giving evidence from behind a curtain at Southwark crown court, the woman, now aged 49, said she has been a friend of Harris’s daughter Bindi since they were toddlers.

The entertainer was accused of being “creepy” towards the then 13-year-old, often giving her “big hugs” and “tickles” which she found “cringey”. She told how, on a holiday to Hawaii, there was an occasion where she was alone in her hotel room after showering and found Harris waiting for her.

She told the court: “He came over to me and gave me one of his big hugs and tickles ... He would tickle you up and down all over your body.”

The woman said she found the touching “creepy and cringey” but she was afraid if she told anyone it would cause “mayhem”.

After giving her a hug during that holiday in December 1978, he then allegedly proceeded to assault her with his hand. She added: “He then just mumbled ‘mmmmm, you’re lovely’ or something like that.”

Harris, 84, who denies 12 counts of indecent assault between 1968 and 1986, listened intently to the proceedings through a hearing loop. The alleged victim, who is the subject of seven of the counts, claims she was abused by Harris over 15 years.

Eventually the woman, who became an alcoholic, told her parents about the alleged abuse, prompting her father to write a letter to Harris.

In a reply, sent in March 1997, the artist confessed to having a sexual relationship with the woman, but denied it started when she was 13. In the letter, he described being in a state of “self-loathing” and feeling “sickened” by himself for the misery he had caused her.

“You can’t go back and change things that you have done in this life — I wish to god I could,” he wrote.

“I know that what I did was wrong but we are, all of us, fallible and oh how I deluded myself. Please forgive me, love Rolf.”

The trial continues.

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