Disgraced entertainer and convicted sex offender Rolf Harris has died at the age of 93. A registrar at Maidenhead Town Hall confirmed his death to the PA news agency.
It was reported last year that Harris was ill with neck cancer and was unable to talk. The former TV star was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to five years and nine months in jail for 12 indecent assaults on four underage girls between 1968 and 1986.
He was released from prison in 2017 – part-way through a re-trial on four accusations of indecent assault. In November 2017, he appeared at the Court of Appeal in London to try and overturn his convictions and had one overturned.
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However, the other 11 convictions remain. Since his conviction, he had kept an incredibly low profile.
In a statement issued this afternoon, Harris' family said he "died peacefully". The statement issued on behalf of the family by their solicitors said: "This is to confirm that Rolf Harris recently died peacefully surrounded by family and friends and has now been laid to rest.
"They ask that you respect their privacy. No further comment will be made."
Harris was released on licence from HMP Stafford on May 19 2017, less than three years after his sentence began.
At the time, his was the biggest celebrity scalp to be claimed by detectives from high-profile sex crime investigation Operation Yewtree. He was the second person convicted under the national inquiry, set up in the wake of abuse claims against late DJ and entertainer Jimmy Savile.
In light of his conviction, Harris had his 2012 Bafta fellowship removed and was stripped of his CBE. He also had Australian honours taken away. He was made an MBE in the 1960s, OBE a decade later and CBE in 2006 – the year after he painted the late queen’s 80th birthday portrait.
The decision to revoke an honour, which can be recommended by the Honours and Appointments Secretariat to the Forfeiture Committee, must be approved by the sovereign.
Harris' wife Alwen is believed to still be in the home and bedridden with illness.
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