Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris has been jailed for five years and nine months for 12 sexual assults against four girls - including his daughter Bindi's friend - between 1968 and 1986.
Harris, who arrived at court without his wife Welsh wife Alwen, was also charged with four counts of making indecent images of children.
It also emerged in court that police found a stash of child abuse images on his computer in 2012.
Harris decided to take the quieter route to court for his sentencing - at around 7am this morning he boarded a boat, whilst laughing and joking, behind his house on the River Thames in Bray, Berkshire, and travelled along the river to Southwark Crown Court in south London.
There, the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, told Harris, who was wearing a grey suit and multi-coloured tie and brandishing a suitcase: 'You have shown no remorse... you have no one to blame but yourself'.
Because of his age, the 84-year-old - who entertained generations of children since he came to the UK from Australia aged 22 in 1952 - may die behind bars.
The Queen will now almost certainly strip Harris of his CBE.
Rolf Harris is jailed for FIVE YEARS and nine months as judge tells paedophile star: 'You have shown no remorse... you have no one to blame but yourself'
Harris, 84, showed no emotion when he sentenced for 12 sexual assaults
Judge told him 'you have shown no remorse', 'you took advantage of trust'
Said he got a 'thrill' from abusing children, declared him a sexual offender
Moments before he was sentenced he was smiling and chatting to guards
Earlier he was laughing and joking as he took a boat from Berkshire home
Daughter Bindi battled away tears as her father was led down to the cells
Emerged police found stash of child abuse images on his computer in 2012
Harris compiled images of 'extremely young' semi-naked children under 13
But charges for indecent images dropped after indecent assault conviction
One victim today said Harris made her feel 'dirty, grubby and disgusting'
His wife Alwen did not join him for sentencing at Southwark Crown Court
Dozens have come forward with further sex abuse claims this week
By Mia De Graaf and Rebecca Camber
4 July 2014
Daily Mail
Rolf Harris was jailed for five years and nine months today.
The 84-year-old showed no emotion as he faced the prospect of dying behind bars after he was told he will serve a minimum of three years.
Just hours earlier, the disgraced entertainer had been pictured laughing and joking as he took a boat ride from his home in Bray, Berkshire to court.
Even moments before he was sentenced, Harris appeared relaxed, smiling and chatting to the security guards sitting beside him in the dock.
Sentencing: Rolf Harris sat in the dock solemn-faced with a suitcase as he waited to be sentenced today
Arrived: Rolf Harris arrived at Southwark Crown Court without his wife Alwen
Solemn-faced: The disgraced entertainer forced his way through crowds into packed court house
Porn charges dropped: Harris last night heard he will not stand trial for possessing a stash of child porn
But on learning his fate, Harris’s smile faded as he was led to the cells today, while his daughter Bindi, 50, battled tears.
Mr Justice Sweeney said: ‘You have showed no remorse for your crimes at all.
‘Your reputation now lies in ruins. You have been stripped of your honours but you have no one to blame but yourself.’
He said despite his regard for his TV programmes and charitable works, he was a committed ‘sexual offender’, telling him: ‘You took advantage of the trust placed in you because of your celebrity status to commit the offences.’
The judge said he ‘got a thrill’ from abusing children and clearly ‘fancied’ his daughter’s best friend when she was 13 and he was 48.
Junior prosecutor Esther Schutzer-Weissman told Southwark Crown Court his victims had had their childhood stolen by the sexual predator who was convicted earlier this week of 12 counts of indecent assault.
Bindi’s friend said she remained traumatised by his abuse which started at the age of 13 and was to last 16 years.
She said: ‘The attacks that happened have made me feel dirty, grubby and disgusting.
Awaiting sentence: Rolf Harris, 84, boarded a boat on the River Thames behind his house in Bray, Berkshire, shortly before 7am today with a group including his daughter Bindi as they travel to Southwark Crown Court
Discreet: The family could have left by car but opted for a quieter route as convicted Harris faces death in jail
Convicted: The disgraced entertainer was found guilty of 12 sexual assaults on girls between 1968 and 1986
‘The whole sordid saga has traumatised me.’
Now 49, the victim said she became an alcoholic as a teenager and the abuse robbed her of her dreams of a career and a family.
‘As a young girl I had aspirations to have a career, settle down and have a family,’ she said.
‘However, as a direct result of his actions, this has never materialised.
‘The knowledge of what he had done to me haunted me. However, his popularity with the British public made it harder for me to deal with.
‘Rolf Harris had a hold over me that made me a quivering wreck.
‘He made me feel like a sexual object, he used and abused me to such a degree that it made me feel worthless.
‘My loved ones couldn't understand why I drank so much until I told them what Rolf had done to me for so long.’
She said she had quit alcohol since 2000 but still suffered panic attacks and severe anxiety and was unable to communicate and socialise with people outside a small circle, making her world ‘very small’.
Describing how she had ‘suffered in silence’ for years, she added: ‘Rolf Harris, knowing what he had done to me, put me through the ordeal of appearing in court,’ saying she felt he had tried to humiliate her by getting her to talk about the abuse in a public arena.
‘I believe he thought he could made me crumble which I used to, but I am better than I was.’
Mr Justice Sweeney said of his 16-year abuse: ‘I have no doubt that… it was your crimes against her that resulted in her becoming an alcoholic for many years with all that it entailed and that you caused her severe psychological harm.’
He told the entertainer: 'Rolf Harris, the sentence I pass upon you in total is one of five years and nine months imprisonment.
'Unless released earlier, you will serve half that sentence when you will be released on licence for the remainder of your sentence.
'Should you break the terms of that licence, including by commission of further offences, you will be liable to recall.'
The judge told the court he did not feel it was appropriate to order Harris to pay compensation to his victims, but said: 'You will, however, pay the costs of the prosecution in such sum as may be agreed or assessed in due course.'
Sentence: Nine assaults Harris (left in his mugshot and right with his CBE, which the Queen will now strip him of) committed before 1986 carry a maximum of two years under the law at the time. Three in 1986, after the law changed, carry up to 10 years
Support: Harris was flanked by his wife Alwen and daughter Bindi when the jury found him guilty of all counts
Took advantage: Victim impact statements heard Harris preyed on awestruck girls, 'haunting' them
'YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THEIR TRUST': JUDGE'S VERDICT IN FULL
Passing sentence in a packed courtroom, the judge told Harris: 'For well over 50 years you have been a popular entertainer and TV personality of international standing with a speciality in children's entertainment.
'You are also an artist of renown. You have been the recipient of a number of honours and awards over the years, you have done many good and charitable works and numerous people have attested to your positive good character.
'But the verdicts of the jury show that in the period from 1969 to 1986 you were also a sex offender, committing 12 indecent assaults on four victims who were variously aged between eight and 19 at the time.
'There were a number of aggravating features. You took advantage of the trust placed in you because of your celebrity status to commit the offences against three of the victims.
'All your offences in relation to (Bindi's friend) were committed in breach of the trust that her parents had placed in you and two of them took place in her own home.
'In every case the age gap between you and the victim was a very considerable one. You clearly got a thrill from committing the offences while others were present or nearby. Whilst others did not realise what you were doing their presence added to the ordeal of your victims.'
