Sky News: Child abuser Rolf Harris investigated over entering school grounds

Police and probation officials are investigating reports that convicted child abuser Rolf Harris had entered the grounds of a primary school near his home and waved at pupils.

The former TV star was convicted of 12 indecent assaults in June 2014, including one involving an eight-year-old who wanted an autograph, two on girls in their early teens, and a catalogue of abuse against his daughter's friend over 16 years. One of the assault convictions was later overturned on appeal.
Also all over other news outlets: Mirror (detailed account with photos, seems to be the first to publish the story if Google times are reliable), Mail, Standard, Independent, Express, Liverpool Echo, news.com.au, Perthnow, etc.

Sky doesn't miss the chance to specify the eight-year-old in an autograph queue charge but coyly avoids saying that this was the charge that was overturned.

Wasn't he there just to see a wood sculptor who was working there? They make it sound like he was prowling the schoolyard. Pathetic.

Man sees wood sculptor; reckons he could buy the discarded scraps for his wood fire; speaks to sculptor; kids wave at him he waves back - FRONT PAGE NEWS SCANDAL. Oh, please! But more than that - implying vile motives and inciting violence, publishing HATE articles (admittedly not about vile things like skin colour or religion but about even viler wrongful convictions). If Her Majesty's Plod and Her Majesty's CPS don't haul proprietors, editors and hacks into court, there is no justice. Not that there's any space in Britain's jails for them - full of wrongly convicted innocent men and women.

I think so, Tim, and I bet that making it sound that way was intentional. Well said, JK.

The odd thing is, it is very unusual for a school to let random people in.
Most schools are locked and you have to be interrogated and buzzed in, so I would think the perceived risk is greater from the lax safety procedure than Rolf Harris.

I am glad to see that he appears to be in good health wandering around collecting wood or something.

A drunk/drugged crazed man collapsed in my doorway yesterday...we had to step over him to get in and out....it could easily led to a violent/dangerous situation...especially as a narrow pavement leads to a fast busy main road...on a blind corner....an hour later on my return a woman Police Community Support Officer was struggling to move him on.....

.....at the same time over in Rolf Harris land half their local force are investigating a man near 90 years old for asking about some left over wood......

The last thing you should do if you have been convicted of a child sex offences you should not matter what it is going near a school it's a stupid mistake to make obviously no child was put at risk but Rolfs put himself at risk that does not need to be done.

And those are the points - he was not "let in" to the school; he was outside talking to a wood sculptor about buying chippings and was probably unaware they were even school grounds.

'M' wrote:
The last thing you should do if you have been convicted of a child sex offences you should not matter what it is going near a school it's a stupid mistake to make obviously no child was put at risk but Rolfs put himself at risk that does not need to be done.
Good point and perhaps one someone who didn't commit the crimes is more likely to forget.

The reports I've read about this seem to be missing the wood carver's side of the story. Was he not available to talk to the press or was he not sufficiently condemnatory?

But that's the problem he has not protected himself I'm sure if he knew the area he knew a school was there if he did not it was bad luck I'm not damming him but a famous faces like him are just what the media want to jump on.
I'm suprised W-T has not jumped on it today but I'm guessing he is still looking in the mirror telling himself how good he is

It sounds a bit far fetched that the children were waving at him. Unless they already knew him from being a local, cant imagine any of them would know who he is.

'M' wrote:
I'm suprised W-T has not jumped on it today but I'm guessing he is still looking in the mirror telling himself how good he is
That is odd. You'd think he'd want to remind everyone that he was the one who put Rolf Harris's name online with Savile/sexual offences hashtags months before he was arrested or charged.

honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
It sounds a bit far fetched that the children were waving at him. Unless they already knew him from being a local, cant imagine any of them would know who he is.
That does sound far fetched. The people who do remember him from TV must be fairly long in the tooth by now. Unless the children were just waving at him because he was waving at them, or vice versa.

What is particularly concerning is the number of people commenting that Rolf Harris 'abused children', as if he's some paedophilic Pied Piper.

As someone else has mentioned, the newspapers are being very coy about reminding people that his overturned conviction related to his 'youngest victim'(who pocketed 22 grand for her efforts), and that he has no convictions at all for sexually assaulting pre-pubescent children. I guess pushing the paedophile angle increases hits to the site and keeps the advertisers happy.

Sheba Bear wrote:
I guess pushing the paedophile angle increases hits to the site and keeps the advertisers happy.
Seemingly also for the BBC.

BBC: Rolf Harris primary school incident to be investigated
The Ministry of Justice has launched an investigation after convicted paedophile Rolf Harris entered the grounds of a Berkshire primary school.
But they've got the sculptor's side of things. Rather neutral - maybe why the newspapers didn't bother to include it.
He was talking to sculptor Nick Garnett, who was working in the school's "Kiss and Drop" area.

Mr Garnett told the BBC: "I turned round and there was Rolf Harris, which was a strange moment.

"He asked for a piece of timber. Apparently he's interested in making some carvings, so I gave him a couple of pieces."

He said: "At no point was he near any children. The headmaster dealt with it incredibly calmly."

Even MORE ridiculous now we know - why on earth did the stupid Headmaster call police? It's all a part of the madness - those on the Sex Offenders list are not allowed to "work with children". So by buying something in a shop from a girl behind the till who is 17 is a breach. Bonkers! Britain deserves Brexit; we no longer belong to the Human Race so it's right we leave the Court of Human Rights.

I'm guessing that the headmaster called police because he was in a no-win situation in today's climate of paedo panic, and that he had no concerns about Rolf lusting after children but needed to cover his backside.

I'm more interested in who tipped off the press over an elderly chap acquiring some wood to carve. The police, maybe? A parent?

Oh yes; I offered to give evidence to The Leveson Inquiry about Police and Media relationships many years ago.

BBC: 'Action taken' over Rolf Harris primary school incident

"Appropriate action" has been taken after convicted paedophile Rolf Harris entered the grounds of a school, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said. ...

Police said "no offence" had been committed by Harris, but that an officer had given him "advice". ...

The MoJ said it would not comment on whether any terms of Harris' licence had been breached, due to him entering school property.

A spokeswoman said it would not say what action had been taken.
The media will be disappointed the MoJ isn't throwing them a bone. Maybe they'll just have to make up another story about what kind of action they think has been taken.

BBC calling him a convicted paedophile again. This seems to be a recent thing. Older articles not about his presence near the school and concerning his conviction/court cases call him "entertainer Rolf Harris", "disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris" or "former entertainer Rolf Harris" (Google results). Looks as if the BBC is now singing the same tune as the tabloids.

Jo wrote:
BBC: 'Action taken' over Rolf Harris primary school incident

"Appropriate action" has been taken after convicted paedophile Rolf Harris entered the grounds of a school, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said. ...

Police said "no offence" had been committed by Harris, but that an officer had given him "advice". ...

The MoJ said it would not comment on whether any terms of Harris' licence had been breached, due to him entering school property.

A spokeswoman said it would not say what action had been taken.
The media will be disappointed the MoJ isn't throwing them a bone. Maybe they'll just have to make up another story about what kind of action they think has been taken.

BBC calling him a convicted paedophile again. This seems to be a recent thing. Older articles not about his presence near the school and concerning his conviction/court cases call him "entertainer Rolf Harris", "disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris" or "former entertainer Rolf Harris" (Google results). Looks as if the BBC is now singing the same tune as the tabloids.

And yet there is no suggestion that he is a paedophile, as the only case involving a pre-pubescent child turned out to be a load of hogwash.

Was that the silly bit he admitted having an affair with when she was 18 and simply said something like "You look nice" when she was 13 in a bikini?