Rolf Harris, the pedophile, is dead and cremated.
But Britain and Australia had entirely washed their hands of him ten years ago when details of his grooming and indecent assaults of young girls and women were aired over a period of months in a British court.
The seismic shockwave that enveloped Britain when Harris was charged, initially with nine counts of sexual assault, which then expanded to 12 counts, cannot be understated.
Harris at the time was prime-time television and a mega-star; he had entertained generations of children with his cartoon shows and songs. Queen Elizabeth II was among those who were enthralled by his artistic skills.
He drew the official portrait for the Queen on her 80th birthday.
I covered every day of all his court appearances, when as well as the sexual assault cases, Harris was also charged with possession and downloading of pornography.
Those pornography charges were dropped so that the prosecutor could concentrate on the more serious cases, one of which involved a seven-year-old child who had sat on his lap seeking an autograph back in 1968. (That case ended up being overturned on appeal as being an unsafe verdict).
Just months before the details of his 2013 arrest were made public Harris had attended an event for famous Australians at Australia House on The Strand, after which one of the fellow attendees said he tried to grope her.
Some weeks later Harris was at St James’ palace for a soiree with then Prince Charles and Camilla, where Kylie Minogue sang “The Locomotion”.
Even when the charges were made public Harris continued on with a national tour across Britain, telling a shocked Bristol audience: “It’s not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
Yet all of that privilege and fame dissolved on the opening days at Southwark court in early 2014 when he sang parts of “Jake the Peg” and mimicked the sound of a wobble board, trying in vain to get the jury onside.
He would draw pictures of the jury until the judge castigated him and took away his pencil. He would walk slowly into the court each day with wife Alwen on one arm, his daughter Bindi sometimes on the other, and his long-serving publicists tailing behind.
Outside of the court other young women came forward, and many young females in television had a sickening tale of being made to feel very uncomfortable around Harris, who got his thrills from being deviant in the most public of spaces. Sitting in the courtroom hearing all of the testimony, Harris became a diminished and grubby opportunist low life.
Imperious Harris got away with it for so long – he was 83 when he was first charged – because he had a well developed radar for girls and women who were slightly nervous, quiet or so young they didn’t understand what was happening. Some, like makeup artist Suzie Dent, were powerless because she feared she would lose her career.
Bindi, his daughter, had a friend, known in court as victim A, who was assaulted from the age of 13. Harris admitted to an affair with her when A was 18 which started because she had been “flirtatious”.
However the jury believed A, who described being assaulted after coming out of a shower, and then when on a beach within metres of Bindi and Alwyn.
Other victims would tell of their shame, that this celebrity who was much admired would assault them, knowing that if they spoke out no one would believe them.
Harris spent just under three years in jail, and was released on licence to his home in Bray, outside of London. In his final years Harris was a recluse, with Alwen developing dementia and Harris dealing with throat cancer.
That it took his family nearly two weeks to release details of his death – he died on May 10 according to the death certificate – says it all.
No one wanted to know anything about him.
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