Rolf Harris has blasted "ludicrous" claims he sexually assaulted a teenage girl.
The 84-year-old TV star – who strenuously denies 12 counts of indecent assault against the woman and three other girls between 1968 and 1986 – gave evidence in his ongoing trial for the first time today (27.05.14), admitting to having an affair with the woman in her adult years, but insists he never performed a sex act on her when she was 13.
Quizzed about an alleged incident in 1978 after the girl stepped out of the shower, he told Southwark Crown Court: "Nope, didn’t happen."
Rolf – who is married to Alwen Hughes – expressed his "guilt" over his illicit romance with the woman, a friend of his daughter Bindi Harris, when she was an adult.
He said: "It was a very flattering feeling for this young lady to be showing an interest in me."
The veteran entertainer later added: "I find it very hard to discuss this. It’s very embarrassing.
"It’s just a married man, a much younger girl … I shouldn’t have been doing it."
Rolf claims he began a romantic relationship with the woman and performed a sex act on her in bed during one of her visits to the Harris family home.
Insisting the tryst was consensual, he said: "She seemed to be welcoming the whole business and enjoying it."
The former ‘Animal Hospital’ presenter detailed how the affair ended in "a very acrimonious way" and alleges the woman tried to blackmail him in exchange for £25,000.
He lamented: "It was like the sword of Damocles hanging over me, I kept waiting each weekend for a newspaper to destroy me."
During the same conversation, Rolf says the woman became "irate" and began punching him in the face with clenched fists.
Elsewhere, the TV star bizarrely appeared to entertain the jury by singing a part of his song ‘Jake the Peg’ and demonstrating the sounds made by his favourite instruments, the didgeridoo and wobble board.
Rolf Harris: Assault claims are ‘ludicrous’
