Disgraced entertainer and convicted paedophile Rolf Harris dies aged 93

Disgraced entertainer and convicted sex offender Rolf Harris has died at the age of 93.

His death was confirmed by a registrar at Maidenhead Town Hall, the PA news agency confirmed. A cause of death has yet to be disclosed.

In October, it was reported that the convicted paedophile was “gravely sick” with neck cancer and was receiving around-the-clock care.

The Australian-born TV presenter was a family favourite for decades before being convicted of a string of indecent assaults in June 2014.

These included one on an eight-year-old autograph hunter, two on girls in their early teens and a catalogue of abuse against his daughter’s friend over 16 years.

Harris was jailed for five years and nine months after being convicted of 12 assaults which took place between 1968 and 1986.

In May 2017, he was formally cleared of four unconnected historical sex offences, which he had denied.

Later the same year, one of the 12 indecent assault convictions was overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Born in western Australia, Harris rose to fame in the 1950s with songs such as “Jake the Peg” and “Two Little Boys”. He became a prominent figure on UK TV in the Sixties and Seventies, presenting shows including Animal Hospital.

Once a much-loved artist and musician, who painted Queen Elizabeth II’s official portrait in 2005, Harris was arrested as part of the Operation Yewtree investigation in 2012, which was set up in the wake of the Jimmy Saville sexual abuse scandal.

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During his trial, which began in May 2014, prosecutors claimed that the entertainer was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who used his fame to abuse under-age girls with impunity.

Despite a reportedly well-known reputation for groping in Australia, Harris was viewed as an early champion of child protection campaigns in the UK. In 1985, he presented an educational film about child sexual abuse, titled “Kids Can Say No!”.

The death of the “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” singer comes just days after the release of a new ITV documentary about his crimes, telling of the rise and fall of the former “national treasure”.

The two-part documentary, titled Hiding in Plain Sight, included new testimony from his accusers, including those who waived their right to anonymity to discuss the impact his assaults had on them.

Harris is survived by his wife Alwen Hughes, 91, who stuck by the convicted paedophile throughout his prison sentence, and their daughter Bindi, 59.