93-year-old Rolf Harris apparently passed away.
The Sun revealed Harris’ passing on Tuesday, following a protracted battle with neck cancer.
He is thought to have passed away at home.
Harris was released from prison five years ago and moved to Berkshire with his wife of more than twenty years, Alwen Hughes, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
It was reported in October that Harris was ‘gravely sick’ and no longer able to eat, requiring carers to monitor him at his home.
His health is reported to have taken a turn for the worse after the death of his beloved poodle earlier in the year.
He was also reported to have been hospitalised during his time in prison after his diabetes spiralled out of control.
Harris was released from jail in May 2017 after serving three years of his five years and nine month sentence after being found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, one of which was later overturned.
He has not spoken out publicly since his release from jail but shared a statement in Merritt’s recent book, Rolf Harris: The Defence Team’s Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials.
Harris said in the statement: ‘I understand we live in the post truth era and know few will want to know what really happened during the three criminal trials I faced – it’s easier to condemn me and liken me to people like [Jimmy] Saville and [Gary] Glitter.
‘I was convicted of offences I did not commit in my first trial. That is not just my view but the view of the Court of Appeal who overturned one of my convictions. I had already served the prison sentence by the time of the appeal.
‘I changed my legal team after the first trial, and I was told that if the truth was out there, William [Merritt] would find it and he did. The evidence he found proved my innocence to two subsequent juries.
‘I’d be in prison serving a sentence for crimes I did not commit if it were not for William’s investigation. It is difficult to put into words the injustice that I feel.’
The Australian-born entertainer had worked in the entertainment industry for decades, as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality.
Throughout the years he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (in 1968); then was advanced to Officer in 1977, then to Commander in 2006, and even famously painted a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.
But in 2012 when the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal broke, Harris was arrested as part of the Operation Yewtree police investigation.
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