Cartoon by abuser Harris to be destroyed
A SELF-PORTRAIT by shamed TV presenter Rolf Harris is to be scrubbed from the walls of a Midland university.
Bosses at Coventry University plan to get rid of the caricature, which has remained in place nearly three years after Harris was convicted of child sex offences.
The drawing, done in the disgraced entertainer’s trademark style, was penned during his second visit to the Priory Place building in 1995.
It was only after the matter was raised by former student Joe Rukin that action has been agreed.
Mr Rukin worked in the building when it acted as the Students’ Union, at the time Harris visited, and revealed that he painted two pictures.
There was also a cartoon on the backstage wall, done during his 1993 visit, but that one was painted over.
And despite the number of times the walls have been touched up, the abuser’s other portrait remains.
“He did a picture in 1993 that wasn’t that good,” said Mr Rukin. “He came back and did a selfportrait in 1996.
“The first picture got painted over but the other remained.. You can see they’ve painted d around it.
“Someone has written ‘pervert’ next to it in normal pen.
“I was rather surprised to see it still there.
“I thought it would have been painted over before now. He’s been convicted, after all.”
A spokesman from the university said: “We’re aware of the drawing and we are in the process of getting it removed.”
The 86-year-old was convicted in 2014 of 12 counts of indecent assault on young girls and sentenced to nearly six years in jail.
He is currently facing a second trial on further allegations, viewing proceedings from his Stafford prison cell.