Rolf Harris “groomed and molested” friend of daughter, court hears.

A UK court has been told veteran Australian entertainer Rolf Harris was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character whose “dark side” led him to groom young girls for sexual abuse.

Harris, 84, is accused of indecently assaulting four girls between 1968 and 1986. He denies all 12 charges.

His alleged victims were aged between seven or eight and 19 when the offences are said to have taken place.

Seven of the 12 counts are alleged to have been carried out on one victim – his daughter’s friend. The victim eventually began to consent to sexual activity with Harris as an adult because she had been “groomed like a pet”, it was claimed.

Harris admits having a consensual affair with the woman, and wrote a letter thought to have been sent in March 1997, expressing his regret.

He confessed to having a sexual relationship with the woman, but said it had stemmed from “love and friendship” and 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.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass QC said of his alleged victims: “They were overawed at meeting Rolf Harris. Mr Harris was too famous, too powerful and his reputation made him untouchable.

“The prosecution does not, for a minute, suggest that there is not a good, talented and kind side to Mr Harris,” she said.

“But concealed behind this charming and amicable children’s entertainer lay a man who exploited the very children who were drawn to him.”

She added there was “a side of him which is sexually attracted to children and under-age girls”.

A television make-up artist said his reputation for groping was so widespread and so notorious that he was known as “The Octopus” in TV circles in Australia.

The trial continues.

Source: Telegraph, BBC.