In August 2013, Rolf Harris was arrested by Operation Yewtree officers and charged with nine counts of indecent assault dating to the 1980s, involving two girls between 14 and 16 years old, and four counts alleging the production of indecent child images in 2012.
Harris appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 23 September 2013, charged with nine counts of indecent assault and four counts of making indecent images of children.
His lawyer indicated that Harris would plead not guilty and he was subsequently bailed. In December 2013, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that Harris was facing three further counts of sexual assault.
The CPS said that the new charges were of alleged assault against females aged nineteen in 1984, aged seven or eight in 1968 or 1969, and aged fourteen in 1975.
The four counts of making indecent images were related to the Protection of Children Act 1978, which interprets viewing images on a computer as making images.
The trial of Harris began on 6 May 2014 at Southwark Crown Court. Seven of the twelve charges involved allegations of a sexual relationship between Harris and one of his daughter’s friends.
After several delays in the trial, in which the judge’s summing-up took three days, the jury retired to consider its verdict on 19 June 2014.
On 30 June, Harris was found guilty of all 12 counts of indecent assault.
At Southwark Crown Court on 4 July 2014, Mr. Justice Sweeney sentenced Harris to a total of five years and nine months in prison.