Assault victim breaks silence after Rolf Harris' death
Warning: This article contains information about sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
One of Rolf Harris's victims has spoken out about the "impact of evil" the disgraced entertainer had on her life, after the news of his death broke around the world.
Karen Gardner, a presenter for the the BBC, accused the convicted pedophile of assaulting her three times when she was his 16-year-old bag carrier for the show Star Games in 1977.
Upon hearing the news of his death, Gardner wrote on Twitter, "Very few of us escape the impact of evil people. What we have to do is expose them, share and stand together to dilute the pain."
"For me it was Rolf Harris but he inflicted much worse on other girls."
Ms Gardner shared the details of her harrowing experience in the recent ITV documentary Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight, which aired just last week.
She told the program, "In the space of I guess about 35 minutes, he assaulted me three times in plain sight. And it was horrible because you're surrounded by people, and he had a method of operating."
"I won't talk about the actual details, but he was paying me attention, he was saying how great I had been, and he, he hugged me, and that that's when, when it happened. And it was humiliating and degrading and awful and your, your blood turns to concrete."
"And then it was mid-afternoon and they had organised a couple of taxis and one of the cars came to get him. And I had to get in the back seat of the car."
Ms Gardner said Rolf got beside her and assaulted her again, adding, "Maybe because there wasn't anyone there, I did tell him to f**k off. And he said something, which makes, still makes me feel sick now. He said to me, 'You're irresistible.' I was 16. He was 48. He was 10 years older than my dad."
Harris was acquitted of assaulting Ms Gardner after the jury could not reach a verdict at two trials.
Rolf Harris' death was confirmed on May 23rd, while his death certificate states he died at the age of 93 on May 10th, after a battle with neck cancer.
Image credits: ITV / Getty Images