BREAKING: Rolf Harris CLEARED of THREE sex offences

PA

Rolf Harris has been cleared of three sex offences and the jury has been discharged

Yesterday, Harris, 86, was cleared of indecently assaulting the youngest of his alleged victims when she was 12.

Judge Alistair McCreath told the seven women and five men of the jury, who have been deliberating over the Australian's fate for almost a week, he would accept majority decisions on the counts if they could not reach them unanimously.

Harris was on trial facing seven counts of indecent assault and one alternative count of sexual assault, allegedly taking place between 1971 and 2004 when Harris was between 41 and 74.

The jury took 26 hours and 16 minutes to clear Harris of two charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault.

Getty

The CPS has a week to decide if they will retry Harris on the charges

Harris is currently in jail following a 2014 trial which saw him convicted of 12 sex offences against four female victims, one aged as young as seven or eight.

But his defence team claimed the jury in the first trial had “got it wrong” and that the media frenzy had “without doubt made him vulnerable to people making accusations against him”.

Harris declined to go into the witness box to give evidence in his own defence at his second trial, instead silently watching proceedings first on video from Stafford prison and then later from the dock with a hearing loop when Judge McCreath insisted he was brought to court.

Harris, wearing a pale blue shirt, suit and patterned tie, showed no reaction as the not guilty verdicts were read out by the jury forewoman.

Judge McCreath discharged the jury from deliberating on the further four counts Harris is accused of.

The prosecution team asked for a week to decide if they will apply for a retrial.

Judge McCreath told Harris he must be present for a hearing next Wednesday, but not necessarily in person, to which he replied: "Thank you."

Related articles

• Rolf Harris 'groped females under the noses of other people'
• Media frenzy made Rolf Harris vulnerable to accusations, court told
• Rolf Harris ACQUITTED of one charge of indecent assault