Artist and former TV star already serving six-year sentence for offences against four girls, will go on trial next month

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Rolf Harris has appeared in court accused of a further seven sex attacks – including an assault on a disabled woman.

The former children’s entertainer is also alleged to have molested a girl under the age of 14 at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, west London, 1983.

Harris is said to have struck again at Television Centre 21 years later, indecently assaulting a woman there in 2004.

The Australian-born artist, 85, is already serving a six-year sentence at Stafford prison for sex offences against four girls, one aged seven or eight.

He appeared via videolink at Westminster magistrates court in London charged with a further seven sex attacks on girls and women spanning four decades and dating to the early 1970s.

He is said to have molested girls at the Lyceum Theatre in Covent Garden, London; outside Radio Victory, an independent station in Portsmouth; and in Jesus Green, a park overlooking the river in Cambridge.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

His barrister, Stephen Vullo QC, requested that the full details of the charges Harris faced were not read out in court in front of the “media circus”.



But this was rejected by District Judge Quentin Purdy, who pointed out that it was a public hearing and the charges should be put in full.

Wearing a grey suit, white shirt and a colourful striped tie, Harris rested his hand on a paper cup of water as he sat at a desk in the prison room.

The elderly artist spoke to say: “Good afternoon” to the district judge and gave his address as HMP Stafford.He said he struggled to hear the proceedings and lawyers were repeatedly asked to speak up.

The grey-haired prisoner appeared relaxed as he sat with his hands clasped throughout the hearing. He answered “not guilty” as the charges were put to him. The public gallery was packed with reporters from Britain, Australia and New Zealand, with some forced to stand because there were not enough seats.

Purdy sent the case to Southwark crown court in London, where Harris will appear on 14 April.