Harris never groped young fans, says his former agent
Rolf Harris took “personal pleasure” from meeting young fans but never behaved inappropriately towards them, his former agent told a court yesterday.
The former TV entertainer, 87, allegedly groped three girls aged 13 to 16 at london’s lyceum theatre, after filming ITV’s Star Games and backstage at the BBC’s Saturday Superstore studio.
Southwark Crown Court in london heard from ex-agent Kenneth Jeacle, who worked with Harris for a decade from the mid-1980s, via video-link from Australia.
He described “meet and greet” and autograph sessions which would last longer than the performance beforehand.
He said: “Mr Harris’s whole intention was to have personal contact... if they wished to meet him, it was his desire to allow them to meet him and he always got personal pleasure out of having meetings with his audience and people in the street.”
Mr Jeacle denied claims that Harris would “pull” young fans on to his lap, adding: “There were never, shall I say, incidents in my presence where Mr Harris would be the instigator of touching a child and or an adult for that matter and draw them towards him.
“Mr Harris’s attitude in those incidents was always that people would approach him.”
Harris, of Bray, Berkshire, denies four counts of indecent assault.
The trial continues.