Rolf Harris ‘under house arrest’ after wandering onto school grounds following prison release
Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris shocked all entering school grounds, so his family has put restrictions on when and where he can go outside.
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Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris has reportedly been placed under house arrest by his own family after wandering into a school while on probation following his prison release.
Harris has been spoken to by police and probation officials after walking into Oldfield Primary School in the UK, and waving at children.
The Sun reported that the Ministry of Justice said it is reviewing his release from prison after serving three years for historical sex offences, to see if he may have breached the terms of his parole.
It was reported that his family have now ordered him not to leave the house without permission.
A family friend reportedly said: “There’s a lot of upset in the Harris house.
“The upshot seems to be like house arrest, and Rolf now has to ask permission from his management team and handler if he wants to leave the house.
“They’re saying that it’s a PR disaster and are wondering what he was thinking.”
NEIGHBOURS DEFEND SHAMED STAR
Neighbours leapt to the former entertainer’s defence, arguing he had not trespassed on the Oldfield Primary School grounds.
One elderly male neighbour said: “It’s horrendous. You know his only interest was looking at some wooden sculptures.
“He’s an asset to the area, he’s been a tremendous supporter of any charity we’ve been part of.”
The neighbour claimed Harris was not well, while his wife was also bedbound.
He added: “We know he had sex with a 15-year-old, but we find it terribly sad that the end of his life has been marred by continual investigation into what happened 30 or 40 years ago.”
Another male neighbour putting out rubbish described the outrage in the local community as “nonsense”.
He said: “There is some wood work being done at the edge of the school. He went and asked for some wood from it. He’s a sculptor. This is all silly stuff.”
A third neighbour said the incident was “clearly an honest mistake”.
Harris refused to comment on the incident.
After photographs emerged of Harris at the school, head Richard Jarrett insisted that he had no access to pupils, and that police had been informed.
Mr Jarrett said: “We’ve got a wood sculptor working close to the road at the moment and Rolf Harris lives near to the school.
“He must have seen him [the sculptor] and come into the school area.
“He had no access to the children whatsoever.”
Harris explained that he was there to pick up some wood from the sculptor — but Mr Jarrett told him: “You need to go”.
STRING OF SEX OFFENCES
Harris was sentenced in June 2014 to five years nine months in prison for a dozen indecent assaults against four teenage girls between 1968 and 1986.
He was released on license after three years in May 2017 — with his sentence running out in March next year.
Harris is thought to have been placed on the Sex Offenders Register — but it is not clear if he will have breached this by entering the school grounds.
Harris was reportedly photographed outside the school at about at lunchtime last Tuesday wearing a red jacket similar to the one he wore in his infamous mugshot.
The passer-by who took the photos said: “I could not believe what I was seeing. A convicted paedophile should not be in the grounds of a primary school.
“He was waving at the children through the window. I think they were on lunch or maybe in class.
“They were waving back at him and clearly had no idea who he was.”
And a furious mum of two said: “For him to just be able to freely walk in is not a good thing.
“If you’re a paedophile you can’t be going near a school. I’m disgusted.”
The Ministry of Justice said: “When sex offenders are released they are subject to strict licence conditions and are liable to be returned to custody for breaching them.
“We are looking into these reports and will take appropriate action.”
This article was originally published in The Sunand has been reproduced here with permission.
