Rolf's dementia-struck widow is unaware he has died
Rolf’s dementia-struck widow is unaware he has died: News comes as family reveals the disgraced paedophile, 93, told his daughter to look after her mother with his final words
- Widow Alwen Harris, 91, is unaware her husband has died due to her dementia
- Disgraced paedophile Rolf Harris died at his Berkshire home earlier this month
- Before his death, the pair celebrated their milestone 65th wedding anniversary
- Harris begged their daughter Bindi to look after her mother in his final moments
The widow of disgraced paedophile Rolf Harris is unaware that he has died due to her dementia.
According to Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, 91-year-old Alwen, who Harris begged his daughter Bindi to look after in his final moments, is not aware that her husband died earlier this month after succumbing to neck cancer at the age of 93.
It is believed Harris told his daughter to ‘look after your mum’ as he spoke with a feeding tube in the days before his passing at his house in Berkshire, England, on May 10.
‘I always believed we would go on longer together but, if I go first, promise you’ll take good care of your mum,’ he said.
Alwen is understood to still be living in their £7million mansion in Bray, Berkshire. She is currently receiving 24 hour nursing care.
Before his death, Harris had celebrated his 65th wedding anniversary with Alwen, who always stood defiantly by his side alongside their daughter – even after he was jailed in 2014 for abusing young girls between 1968 and 1986.
Rolf Harris with wife Alwen in their garden in Berkshire where she is receiving 24 hour nursing care as she is in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s
Alwen, who Harris begged his daughter Bindi to look after in his final moments, is not aware that her husband died earlier this month
A source close to the family said the former TV entertainer pleaded with his only child Bindi to care for her mother who is receiving 24 hour nursing care as she is in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s (A 1967 picture of Rolf Harris, Alwen and their daughter Bindi)
It is believed Harris told his daughter to ‘look after your mum’ as he spoke with a feeding tube in the days before his passing
Alwen is understood to still be living in their £7million mansion in Bray, Berkshire. She is currently receiving 24 hour nursing care
Harris was convicted of a string of indecent assaults, including one of an eight-year-old seeking an autograph, two girls in their early teens and a range of abuse of his daughter’s friend over 16 years, starting when she was just 13.
He was jailed for five years for 12 indecent assaults on four underage girls between 1968 and 1986 but Alwen never publicly wavered from supporting her husband.
In 2017, while still in jail, the disgraced entertainer was put on trial for a second time, accused of four indecent assaults on three teenage girls.
He denied the charges and was found not guilty after the jury failed to agree on a verdict.
Following the not guilty verdict, his solicitor read a statement on Harris’ behalf which his client he wanted to spend his remaining time with his wife.
He was released in May 2017 after spending three years at HM Prison Stafford.
The couple met in the early 1950s at an art school in Kennington, in south London, before marrying at St Saviour’s Church in Paddington in 1958.
Final photos of the couple show the pair smiling with Alwen wearing a pink coat and slippers while Harris puts his arm around her and holds the paw of their family dog.
Best known for hits Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport and Jake The Peg, as well as a string of children’s TV hits, Harris painted the 80th birthday portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Rolf and Alwen Harris pictured on their wedding day
Rolf Harris (second left) and his wife Alwen Hughes (second right) were recluses and rarely left their home in Bray, Berkshire
Years before his conviction in 2014, Harris was given the honour of painting a portrait of the late Queen to mark her 80th birthday
Rolf Harris’ is pictured with a dog at the RSPCA Animal Hospital in Putney, UK
READ MORE: The pathetic final days of disgraced TV star Rolf Harris – with the wife who refused to believe he was evil
Harris died at this riverside mansion (pictured)
He was the face of British Paints for more than three decades before he was dumped by the brand when he was arrested.
He had been struggling to talk after cancerous tumours grew in his neck following his release from jail. He was fed through a tube before his death and was seen in a wheelchair when out of the house.
Harris has already been cremated after dying on May 10. It has since emerged a private ambulance was parked outside the property on Thursday May 11, leaving at around 6pm.
Harris hadn’t spoken publicly since his release from jail in 2017 but released a statement in the recently released book Rolf Harris: The Defence Team’s Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials by private investigator, author and former police officer William Merritt.
‘I understand we live in the post truth era and know few will want to know what really happened during the three criminal trials I faced – it’s easier to condemn me and liken me to people like Savile and Glitter,’ Harris said.
‘I was convicted of offences I did not commit in my first trial. That is not just my view but the view of the Court of Appeal who overturned one of my convictions. I had already served the prison sentence by the time of the appeal.
‘I changed my legal team after the first trial, and I was told that if the truth was out there, William (Merritt) would find it and he did.
‘The evidence he found proved my innocence to two subsequent juries.
‘I’d be in prison serving a sentence for crimes I did not commit if it were not for William’s investigation.
‘It is difficult to put into words the injustice that I feel.’
Source: Read Full Article