Harris told Savile: Safely leave her in my capable hands
‘Rolf knew he could get away with it... he was given green light to have fun’
A NEW documentary reveals the chilling moment Rolf Harris told fellow celebrity paedophile Jimmy Savile he can leave a young girl “safely in my capable hands”.
The sickening clip is part of explosive revelations of how Harris hoodwinked the world during a decadeslong career in entertainment.
His exchange with Savile, believed to be Britain’s worst child sex offender, will raise the question of whether they knew of each other’s perverted behaviour.
Rolf Harris: Hiding In Plain Sight reveals how the Australian artist and children’s entertainer managed to keep his depravities secret.
The TV footage shows Savile welcoming Harris onto his hit BBC show Jim’ll Fix It which ran from 1975 to 1994.
Savile touches the girl’s hair and strokes her shoulder as he tells Harris the child wants to paint with him.
Savile leers: “Do you think I may leave her in your charge?”
Harris responds: “Safely leave her in my capable hands.”
There is no suggestion the youngster was a victim of either man.
Former Top Of The
Pops host Savile, who abused hundreds of victims over his lifetime, died aged 84 in October 2011 before the scale of his offending came to light. Police believe the Leeds-born DJ is Britain’s worst paedophile. Meanwhile, one victim of Harris said over a decade on from his arrest: “He knew he could get away with it... He was given the green light to have fun with me.”
The two-part ITVX series tells the story of Harris’s grooming of his daughter Bindi’s childhood friend from the age of 13, and reveals previously unseen evidence that led to his downfall.
Another alleged victim, Karen Gardner, claims Harris assaulted her three times in the space of 35 minutes in 1978, saying: “He hugged me, and that’s when it happened.
And it was humiliating and degrading.”
Suzi Dent, an Australian make-up artist, claims Harris sexually assaulted her in 1985. She said every time she walked up to put powder on his face he groped her.At the time he was also promoting an anti-child abuse campaign.
She tells viewers: “He knew I wasn’t going to say anything... That would have lost me my career.”
In the 1990s, he achieved chart success with his cover versions of classic rock songs. Band member Chris Brosnan, known as Bear, became his promoter but soon heard rumours about the star.
“I took it up with Rolf and... he cut me off and he said, ‘Bear, we’ve all made mistakes in life, and I’ve made some pretty big mistakes and let’s just leave it there.’”
Harris was arrested in March 2013 and convicted of 12 counts of indecent assault committed between 1968 and 1986.
He was jailed for five years and nine months. Now aged 92 and in failing health, he lives in Berkshire.
Executive producer Nick Hornby said: “Speaking to investigators from Operation Yewtree they felt he was the least repentant and one of the most troubling of the celebrities they encountered.”
• Rolf Harris: Hiding In Plain Sight airs on ITVX from May 18.