JURORS at the trial of Rolf Harris were today shown footage of the entertainer performing in Cambridge in the 1970s – despite the fact that he had previously claimed to have never visited the city until three or four years ago
Rolf Harris was today accused of lying about a visit to Cambridge [PA]Southwark Crown Court was shown clips from an episode of Star Games, filmed in 1978 on Cambridge's Jesus Green.
Harris admitted that it was him competing in the programme but denied deliberately lying.
He claimed to have forgotten about the show and said that he did not know he was in Cambridge at the time.
One of Harris' alleged victims said that he groped her bottom outside what she believed to be a celebrity It's A Knockout event in Cambridge when she was 14.
At the event, which she believed took place in around 1975, she described him as acting up for the crowd by barking at a dog before he grabbed her.
The 84-year-old had previously claimed that he had never been to the city until a few years ago and the court heard that there was no independent evidence to prove that he was in Cambridge in 1975.
Giving evidence last week, he said: "I went once, a couple of years ago, for an art exhibition of my paintings and that's the first time I have ever been to Cambridge."
Harris, of Bray, Berkshire, is accused of 12 counts of indecent assault against four alleged victims aged seven to 19 between 1968 and 1986, all of which he denies.
The veteran entertainer appeared in a video shown to the jury today [PA]There is no way you could have forgotten that event and you deliberately tried to mislead the jury
The jury of six men and six women was today shown the opening of the episode of Star Games, introduced by Michael Aspel as being in Cambridge, and describing Harris as a team captain.
Prosecutor Sasha Wass QC said to Harris: "That video supports pretty much everything that [the alleged victim] said apart from the year, she has got the year wrong?"
He replied: "By three years, yes, she is out by three years."
Ms Wass said: "But when you told the jury with such confidence last week on Tuesday that you had never been to Cambridge until four years ago, that was a deliberate lie, wasn't it?"
He replied: "No, it wasn't. I didn't find out that it was in Cambridge until I saw the video played back and then at the very opening the voiceover introduced it over what I remember was a helicopter shot of the field.
"That was the first time I had heard the word Cambridge."
"I had no idea. I don't think any of us knew."
Ms Wass asked: "Nobody knew they were in Cambridge?"
Harris replied: "None of the performers, none of the stars knew."
The veteran performer explained that the performers had probably been transported by bus or coach to the filming location, so would not necessarily have known where they were.
Harris said: "I was there but I didn't know it was Cambridge."
Ms Wass asked: "Are you saying that you entirely forgot that event?"
He said: "I did until I saw the video and then I remembered it all."
Pressed further by the prosecutor, the entertainer said: "I'm doing hundreds of events during the year, going to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa.
"This was 36 years ago you're talking about, 1978, not '75 as you stated earlier."
Ms Wass suggested that Harris was insinuating that the victim had lied and said: "I'm going to suggest that you are the one that has lied and that demonstrates it, and that there is no way you could have forgotten that event and you deliberately tried to mislead the jury when you told them that you had not been to Cambridge until four years ago."
Harris said: "I had forgotten that event until I saw that video"
Earlier in the trial Harris admitted a on-off sexual relationship with a friend of his daughter Bindi, but insisted that no such contact took place before the girl was 18.
The trial continues.
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