Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris has passed away at the age of 93, as confirmed by a registrar at Maidenhead Town Hall.
The disgraced TV star had been ‘very sick’ with neck cancer since leaving prison six years ago, living as a near-recluse with his wife in their £5million riverside mansion in Bray.
A private ambulance was photographed outside his riverside home on May 11. Two sources close to the family told MailOnline that he died up to a fortnight ago but his death was only registered with Windsor and Maidenhead Council today.
in a statement released by his solicitor, his family said: ‘Rolf Harris recently died peacefully surrounded by family and friends and has now been laid to rest. They ask that you respect their privacy. No further comment will be made’.
The cause of death is not yet known but paedophile Harris had been struggling to talk after cancerous tumours grew in his neck after he was freed from jail in 2017 for a string of sex offences including children as young as eight. He was fed through a tube before his death.
Who is Rolf Harris?
Harris, originally from Australia, gained fame in the 1950s and enjoyed a successful career in television, music, and art. However, in 2013, his reputation took a controversial turn when he was arrested as part of the Operation Yewtree investigation, initiated after the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal.
In 2014, Harris was convicted of 12 indecent assaults at London’s Southwark Crown Court, including offenses against young girls and a long history of abuse against his daughter’s friend. Subsequently, in May 2017, he was cleared of four unrelated historical sex offenses, which he had consistently denied. He was released from prison later that month, having served approximately three years of his sentence. The Court of Appeal also overturned one of his 12 indecent assault convictions in the same year.
Harris, who initially pursued a career as a swimming teacher in Australia, moved to the UK at the age of 21 and found success on television with shows like The Rolf Harris Show, Rolf’s Cartoon Club, Rolf on Saturday, OK?, and Animal Hospital. The latter series, which aired from 1994 to 2004, followed the treatment of animals at various RSPCA hospitals.
In 2006, Harris was honored with a CBE (Commander of the British Empire), having previously received an MBE and OBE. However, in 2015, following his conviction for assaulting young girls, he was stripped of his honors. Buckingham Palace officially revoked his appointment as a Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Harris’s conviction marked him as the second person to be found guilty under the national inquiry established in response to the abuse allegations against the late DJ and entertainer Jimmy Savile.