Rolf Harris has cancer and is ‘gravely sick’ while under 24-hour care

Convicted paedophile Rolf Harris’s health has deteriorated, leaving the Australian entertainer barely able to speak. See how his life has taken a downward turn.

Private investigator William Merritt with former Australian entertainer Rolf Harris in May this year. Picture: Supplied

Exclusive: Disgraced Australian entertainer Rolf Harris is being fed by a tube and no longer able to speak as he battles neck cancer.

The convicted paedophile has not spoken publicly since his release from Stafford Prison in 2017. Harris had been found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault, with one of those convictions later overturned on appeal.

The 92-year-old’s health took a downward turn earlier this year after the death of his beloved poodle Bumble.

The curtains to his home are not drawn until 11.30am most days and neighbours say he seldom leaves the Berkshire home where he has spent the past five years with his wife Alwen, who is in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Neighbour Portia Wooderson said Harris was “really attached” to the dog and his sudden death after stomach problems “knocked him really badly”.

Rolf Harris at the front of his house in Bray. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

“Soon after, Rolf’s own health took a turn for the worse,” Ms Wooderson said. “Only carers and nurses, who care for him 24 hours, come and go. I’m told he can’t eat anymore.”

Private investigator William Merritt, who authored a recent book about the assault trials which was favourable to Harris, said the once-lauded entertainer was “gravely sick”.

“(He’s) battling a cancer of the neck, and gargles when he talks. It’s difficult to understand him, but he is still the entertainer,” Mr Merritt said.

Private investigator and author William Merritt. Picture: Supplied

“As soon as one of two people walk into the room, he turns into a big kid again. He’s an artistic type, and he’ll try to perform on cue, even when he’s unwell.”

Mr Merritt said Harris was “naive and trusting” but “he has a dark side”.

“(He) likes to be on his own; that’s how he survived prison,” he said. “He doesn’t particularly even like kids, he hates the noise.”

The former British national treasure has previously insisted he was the victim of his own naivety and of women driven to cash in on up to £200,000 ($A350,000) as part of the criminal injuries compensation culture of the early 2000s which brought down entertainers Jimmy Saville and Gary Glitter.

Rolf Harris on stage during a performance at the Sydney Opera House in the 1990s.

In a statement for the book Rolf Harris: The Defence Team’s Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials, Harris said: “I understand we live in the post truth era and know few will want to know what really happened during the three criminal trials I faced – it’s easier to condemn me and liken me to people like Saville and Glitter.”

“I was convicted of offences I did not commit in my first trial. That is not just my view but the view of the Court of Appeal who overturned one of my convictions. I had already served the prison sentence by the time of the appeal.

“I changed my legal team after the first trial, and I was told that if the truth was out there, William (Merritt) would find it and he did.

Rolf Harris leaves Southwark Crown Court as his niece Jenny Harris lifts her hand in front of cameras on May 30, 2017 in London. Picture: Getty

“The evidence he found proved my innocence to two subsequent juries.

“I’d be in prison serving a sentence for crimes I did not commit if it were not for William’s investigation,: Harris wrote.

“It is difficult to put into words the injustice that I feel.”

Mr Merritt, 74, a private investigator of 42 years, spent two years unearthing what he claims were glaring failings in the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Yewtree into sexual abuse allegations.

Harris’s fall from royal favourite, who painted the Queen’s 80th birthday portrait and who was awarded a CBE, MBE and OBE, to convicted paedophile, came when he was sentenced in June 2014 to five years and nine months in jail for 12 indecent assaults on four teenage girls between 1968 and 1986.

He was released on parole in May 2017 after spending three years in jail.

Police started to investigate after hearing allegations he had abused his daughter Bindi Nicholl’s best friend when she was 13.

Originally published as Rolf Harris has cancer and is ‘gravely sick’ while under 24-hour care