Rolf Harris drops bid to appeal 12 convictions for sexual abuse of girls

JAILED paedophile Rolf Harris has abandoned his push to appeal 12 convictions for sexually assaulting four girls in the United Kingdom.

FILE - In this Monday, June 30, 2014 file photo, veteran entertainer Rolf Harris leaves the Southwark Crown Court in London. A growing scandal of decades-old sexual assault allegations against television icon Bill Cosby has shocked many in the United States. Across the Atlantic, Britain has been struggling for more than two years to come to terms with a barrage of similar accusations against leading men in its entertainment world who allegedly used their fame and power to exploit young victims. Rolf Harris, the veteran Australian-British entertainer best known as an avuncular children’s television host, was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison in July for a dozen indecent assaults on four girls. A prosecutor said that Harris, 84, got away with the assaults, which took place between the ‘60s and ‘80s, because he was “too famous, too powerful and his reputation made him untouchable.” (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file)

JAILED paedophile Rolf Harris has abandoned his push to appeal 12 convictions for sexually assaulting four girls in the United Kingdom.

Harris’s initial application was refused by a single Court of Appeal judge in late October and the disgraced entertainer is now out of time to ask the court to revisit the issue.

A Judicial Office spokesman confirmed to AAP that Harris hadn’t renewed his application to appeal “and he is now out of time”.

The 84-year-old Australian had 28 days to ask for a hearing before three Appeal Court judges but chose not to.

Harris was sentenced in July to five years and nine months’ jail for indecently assaulting four girls in Britain between 1968 and 1986.

However he’s expected to serve less than three years behind bars.

During his lengthy trial another six women gave supporting evidence that Harris abused them in Australia, New Zealand and Malta between 1969 and 1991.

Harris wasn’t charged over those alleged incidents because they occurred outside the UK.

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In mid-October a British newspaper reported Harris could face fresh charges as a result of more than 10 new victims claiming they were abused by the disgraced artist and singer.

It was claimed Operation Yewtree officers were looking at the British cases while any assaults that took place in Australia or New Zealand would be handled by local police.

The Metropolitan police have refused to comment on the possibility of further charges being laid.

It was also reported in mid-October that Harris had to be moved to a new prison for his own safety after being bullied by inmates.

The convicted sex offender was moved from HMP Bullingdon in Oxfordshire to Stafford jail after being taunted by fellow prisoners.