Entertainer Harris had ‘Jekyll and Hyde nature’

Veteran entertainer Rolf Harris was a "Jekyll and Hyde" character whose "untouchable" reputation allowed him to carry out a string of alleged indecent assaults on underage girls, a court has heard.

The 84-year-old star was even known at an Australian TV channel as “the octopus” because of the way he put his hands all over women, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

Opening the case against Harris, who denies 12 counts of indecent assault between 1968 and 1986, prosecutor Sasha Wass said his alleged victims were “overawed” at meeting him.

“Mr Harris was too famous, too powerful, and his reputation made him untouchable,” she said.

It was his fame and reputation that meant he was able to carry out “brazen” sexual assaults, often when other people were present or nearby, Ms Wass said.

“There is a Jekyll and Hyde nature to Rolf Harris and this dark side of Rolf Harris was obviously not apparent to all of the other people he met during the course of his work, and it was not apparent to those who may want to testify to his good character.”

The prosecutor said it was “a side of him which is sexually attracted to children and underage girls” and “a side which gave him the confidence to molest girls knowing that they could not object and, even if they did, nobody would believe them”.

One of the alleged victims — whose experiences at the hands of Harris led to her becoming an alcoholic — told her parents, the court heard, prompting her father to write a letter to Harris.

In a reply, thought to have been sent in March 1997, the artist confessed to having a sexual relationship with the woman, but 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.

“You can’t go back and change things that you have done in this life — I wish to god I could,” he wrote.

The trial continues.