Rolf Harris and Andy Coulson in jail, HMS Queen Elizabeth and Wimbledon rivalry By Andy McFarlane

BBC News Published duration 5 July 2014

The imprisonment of two very different offenders features heavily in Saturday's papers.

While the downfall of former News of the World editor Andy Coulson for his part in phone-hacking at the paper makes some front pages, most focus on the jailing of entertainer Rolf Harris for child sex offences.

Once a widely-loved TV personality, he's branded a "predator" by both the Daily Telegraph and the Sun.

The latter records Harris's journey to jail , showing pictures of "an idyllic river trip in the morning sun" at 7am, from his Berkshire home to a waiting car, in an attempt to avoid the press pack massed outside his home.

The Daily Mail's Paul Harris describes "one last insult" to his victims as "from TV helicopters overhead, Harris was filmed laughing with four other people on board the open wooden motor boat". Hours later, when the court had been "stunned into silence" by the statements of his victims, he appeared to remain relaxed, the writer adds.

The Guardian says Harris faces the prospect of his £11m fortune being eaten away by court costs, legal fees and future civil compensation suits. But it notes that the attorney general will examine calls to reconsider the "unduly lenient" sentence of five years, nine months.

The Telegraph explains there was little flexibility open to the trial judge. "Because the crimes were historic, having been carried out between 1969 and 1986, Harris had to be sentenced according to the more lenient law that was in place at that time." As the Sun notes, the artist could have faced a further trial over downloading indecent images of children from "Little Girlies" websites had prosecutors not decided it was no longer in the public interest after his jail sentence.

One person struggling to take in the news is Amanda Platell, who writes in the Daily Mail how she initially reacted with disbelief to the arrest of her "old friend" before eventually admitting to herself: "I was conned by a cunning and manipulative paedophile."

'Morally wrong'

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Three other men spent Friday night behind bars after a high-profile trial. But much of the focus from the News of the World hacking trial is on one man.

As the Independent's James Cusick puts it: "He once had an office right next to David Cameron in 10 Downing Street, and was trusted by Rupert Murdoch to run his News of the World paper, but last night Andy Coulson was behind bars in Belmarsh Prison."

The Guardian profiles each of the four who were in the dock with Mr Cameron's former media chief, including two whose prison sentences were suspended. It quotes the trial judge telling Coulson and his co-defendants that all their achievements would "now count for nothing" and that, while the former editor claimed not to know phone hacking was illegal, he knew it was "morally wrong".

The Times reports that Coulson turned down a "six-figure sum to reveal Cameron's secrets" in a book about his time alongside the prime minister. A "friend" is quoted saying Coulson felt he owed Mr Cameron a "duty of honour as his former employer". According to the Mail, that is despite a prosecution bid to recoup almost £750,000 in legal costs that could cost Coulson the family home he shares with his wife and three children in Kent.

Eric Allison spells out in the Guardian what would have awaited Coulson on his first night in the category A prison. "Around teatime, prisoners will be handcuﬀed and placed in cellular vehicles (sweatboxes, in the jargon)... His fellow travellers will know they have a celeb on board and will take the piss," he writes, before adding that he will later be transferred to a "very civilised" open jail.

Another criminal who once stalked the corridors of power, former Conservative cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken, offers some advice in the form of an open letter in the Telegraph . "Planet Prison is a mighty strange place, with its own culture, language and customs. But it is full of surprises, a lot of them pleasant," he writes. Aitken explains that prison wings can be "vibrant, humorous, welcoming and, above all, human" because they are "full of people who have made bad mistakes, yet not many of them are really bad people".

Queen of the seas

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Photographs of the Queen performing the naming ceremony for Britain's newest - and largest ever - warship, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, appear in many papers.

"I name this ship... me," is the Sun's version of events. Its graphics give a breakdown of where each of the ship's vital parts were made and what can be found on board, including a cinema, gyms, pharmacy and bakery.

The ship will be "the pride of Britain on the seas," says the Daily Telegraph, which hears from naval history researcher Duncan Redford that carriers are vital to both the Navy's strength and the nation's safety. "They will allow Britain to project power to defend its interests around the world, without relying on fickle or politically damaging arrangements for basing land-based aircrafts overseas," he writes.

Like the Telegraph, the Times produces detailed graphics to display the ship's specifications. There's just one problem for the Daily Star, which says: "Nice carrier... shame about the aircraft." It explains: "HMS Queen Elizabeth will sail with only helicopters on board for two years - because the government has yet to order the first batch of planes."

"Tory incompetence may yet leave it a carrier with nothing to carry," complains the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror. Times cartoonist Peter Brookes is also sceptical of its worth. "Longer than the Houses of Parliament, three football pitches, 25 London buses, and forty-six white elephants," reads his caption to a silhouette of the ship above a caravan of the beasts.

His Times colleague, reporter Tom Knowles, views the vessel as a "symbol of nationhood", saying of the ceremony in Rosyth: "There were bagpipes, whisky, grey skies and rain. It was a stereotypically Scottish affair, but the case for staying part of Britain was never far away."

The Financial Times's George Parker writes: "David Cameron left the dockyard proclaiming he was 'proud to be British', while Industry Minister Michael Fallon - who sat next to Alex Salmond, Scotland's first minister, at the ceremony - joked: 'Not a Saltire in sight.'" Telegraph cartoonist Bob can't see Mr Salmond being too worried, picturing him hiving off part of the ship with a circular saw as the Queen smashes the ceremonial whisky on its hull.

Meanwhile, across the country on the Clyde, the Guardian's Libby Brooks hears from workers at Scotstoun for whom "the promise of independence sounds more like a threat" of job cuts.

However, it's not so black and white for the Scotsman, which says in an editorial column: "It seems unlikely that if Scotland votes for independence, the rest of the UK's defence procurers will regard Scotland as if it had been wiped from the map. After all, Britain buys lots of defence equipment from America, not least the aircraft due to be based on the ship."

Match points

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It's ladies finals day at Wimbledon but, true to form, there's as much interest in what's going on off-court as on it.

Eugenie Bouchard may have won the hearts of many a fan, earning the nickname "Princess" after the British royal whose name she was given, but her relationship with Britain's own Laura Robson is under scrutiny in several papers.

"They were once the best of friends but now they are no longer on speaking terms," reports the Times , alongside pictures of the pair together posing in fancy dress less than two years ago. "The mystery of the fallout between two of the world's upcoming tennis stars... has led to speculation that the fight is over a man - their once shared coach."

For the Telegraph, they're the "double-act torn apart by rivalry". It explains that coach Nick Saviano is said to be concentrating more on the Canadian. "He has continued to work with both players, but focuses on Bouchard, adopting a consultancy role with Robson," writes Claire Duffin.

Bouchard alluded to the breakdown in relations at a press conference ahead of the final, says the Telegraph, when asked if they were still "good mates" and she replied: "No, I don't think so."

The 20-year-old is "as ruthless as she is glamorous", according to the Daily Mail's Alison Boshoff who describes her as "canny, money-making and with an ambition and drive which make the rest of the tennis crowd - no offence Maria Sharapova - look like a bunch of shuffling amateurs".

Making people click

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