Disgraced entertainer and convicted sex offender Rolf Harris has died at the age of 93.
His death was confirmed to the PA news agency by a registrar at Maidenhead Town Hall.
Harris was an Australian entertainer who rose to fame in the 1950s, and went on to forge a successful career spanning television, music and art.
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However, his reputation took a controversial turn in 2013 when he was arrested as part of the Operation Yewtree police investigation, which was set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal.
The following year, Harris was convicted of 12 indecent assaults at London’s Southwark Crown, including one on an eight-year-old autograph hunter and two on girls in their early teens, along with a catalogue of abuse against his daughter’s friend over 16 years.
Three years later, in May 2017, he was formally cleared of four unconnected historical sex offences - which he had denied - before being released from prison that later month after serving around three years of his sentence.
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Later the same year, one of the 12 indecent assault convictions was also overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Harris - who originally trained as a swimming teacher in his native Australia - moved to the UK at the age of 21, finding fame in the BBC and ITV with shows including The Rolf Harris Show, Rolf’s Cartoon Club, teatime variety show Rolf on Saturday, OK?, and Animal Hospital - a series following treatment of animals at a number of RSPCA hospitals, which ran from 1994 to 2004.
Harris was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2006, having previously received an MBE and OBE, but was stripped of the honour in 2015 after he was convicted of assaulting young girls.
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Buckingham Palace said in a statement at the time: “The Queen has directed that the appointment of Rolf Harris to be a Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 17 June 2006, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.”
He became the second person convicted under the national inquiry, set up in the wake of abuse claims against late DJ and entertainer Jimmy Savile.
Topics: Rolf Harris, Celebrity, World News, UK News
Jess Hardiman