One of Rolf Harris’s victims broke her silence after the pedophile’s death was announced today at the age of 93.
Karen Gardner, a BBC radio presenter, accused him of assaulting her three times in the space of 35 minutes when she was his 16-year-old luggage carrier for the Star Games show in 1977.
She tweeted, “Few of us escape the impact of bad people. What we need to do is expose them, share them and stand together to ease the pain.
“For me it was Rolf Harris, but he’s done much worse to other girls.”
Ms Gardner relives her experience for the ITV documentary Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight.
She revealed her anguish on the show, which aired last week, after bravely waiving her right to anonymity.
Karen Gardner (pictured as a teenager) accused Harris of assaulting her three times in the space of 35 minutes when she was his 16-year-old luggage carrier for the show Star Games in 1977
Ms Gardner broke her silence after the pedophile’s death was announced today aged 93
Ms Gardner (pictured this month) relives her experience for the ITV documentary Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight
She told the programme: “In the space of, I estimate, about 35 minutes, he attacked me three times in plain sight. And it was horrible because you’re surrounded by people, and he had a method.
“I won’t talk about the real details, but he watched me, he said how great I’d been, and he, he hugged me, and then it happened. And it was humiliating and humiliating and horrible and your, your blood turns to concrete.’
She continued, “You can’t believe this is happening. And I have no doubt what happened. My period was due and my breasts were very tender, and I had no doubt that what he had done was intentional. And he did, he did that twice in the space of, I don’t know, 20 odd, 25 minutes.
“And then it was mid-afternoon and they had arranged some cabs and one of the cars came to get him. And I had to get in the backseat of the car.’
Ms Gardner said Rolf got next to her and attacked her again, adding: ‘Maybe because no one was there I told him to fuck off. And he said something that still makes me feel sick to this day. He said to me, “You are irresistible.” I was 16. He was 48. He was 10 years older than my father.’
Harris was acquitted of assaulting Ms. Gardner after the jury failed to reach a verdict in two trials.
Ms Gardner broke her silence just hours after MailOnline revealed the Australian sex offender died of neck cancer and old age.
It later turned out that he died in his home two weeks ago and had already been ‘put to rest’ after a secret cremation.
Harris (pictured in 2017) died at his home two weeks ago and has already been ‘laid to rest’ following a secret cremation, it emerged today
The disgraced TV star had been ‘very ill’ since he was released from prison six years ago, living as a near recluse with his wife in their £5 million riverside mansion in Bray, Berkshire.
A funeral director’s private ambulance was photographed outside his riverside home on May 11. Harris died there on May 10 – 13 days ago – but his death was only registered with Windsor and Maidenhead Council today. The document also showed that he was cremated.
In a statement issued by his attorney this afternoon, his attorney said: “Rolf Harris recently passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends and is now buried. They ask you to respect their privacy. No further comment will be made.”
The cause of death has been revealed as ‘metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the neck’ – the medical term for neck cancer – and ‘weakness of old age’.
Pedophile Harris struggled to speak after cancerous tumors grew on his neck after being released from prison in 2017 for a series of sex offenses including children as young as eight. He was fed through a tube before his death and was seen in a wheelchair outside the house.
He is survived by his grandson Marlon, 25, daughter Bindi, 59, and wife Alwen, 91, a jeweler and sculptor. She is confined to a wheelchair due to Alzheimer’s disease, but the couple, who married in 1958, lived together with the help of round-the-clock care.
The Australian-born TV presenter was a family favorite for decades before being convicted of a series of assault charges in June 2014.
Disgraced pedophile Rolf Harris has died at the age of 93, MailOnline can reveal. He was last photographed in April 2022 (right)
Rolf Harris’s death certificate revealed his cause of death. He died at home on May 10 – 13 days ago
Harris died in this riverside mansion (pictured)
A private ambulance with the back doors open at the home of Rolf Harris and his wife Alwen about ten days ago
These include one about an eight-year-old signature hunter, two about girls in their early teens, and a catalog of abuse against his daughter’s boyfriend of over 16.
He was jailed for five years and nine months after being convicted of 12 sexual assaults between 1968 and 1986.
It understood that Rolf Harris’s health was deteriorating following the sudden death of his beloved poodle earlier in 2022.
Harris married his sculptor wife Alwen in March 1958 after meeting at art school. They have a daughter Bindi.
Best known for hits Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport and Jake The Peg, as well as a string of children’s TV hits, Harris also famously painted the 80th birthday portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
He was the face of British Paints for over three decades before being dumped by the brand when he was arrested in 2013.