Every week I publish my very own “Kev’s Column” on-line. This week I take a look at the case of Rolf Harris who was sent to prison today for sexual offences:
Since the Guilty verdicts were returned at his trial Social Media has been awash with jokes based on Rolf Harris’s long career in entertainment.
I have no sympathy for Rolf Harris himself. He committed a series of crimes using his celebrity to not only gain the initial trust of his victims, but make it harder for someone who reported his offences to be sure they would be believed when they did. The use of charity work and featuring in public information videos telling children how to deal with attempts to touch them in sensitive places, were all part of the mask he created for himself.
Whilst many Rolf Harris performances over the years were pure comedy, the tide of jokes that have now appeared are not. This is a case where a man who thought he had got away with sexually assaulting a number of women and children has finally been brought to book.
His victims have for decades had to watch someone prosper and be revered, even being asked to paint a portrait of the Queen, whilst they knew the truth about him. The parallels with Jimmy Saville are depressingly similar and there is even footage of a TV interview 22 years ago in which they joked about being friends.
Those who, like me, grew up in the 1980’s were fans of shows like Jim’ll Fix It and Rolf’s Cartoon Club. I can remember them being some of the first shows my family recorded on their first Video Recorder when we were going out so I did not miss them. How many of us would have been delighted to get an invite to meet them at that time? How many of our parents would have thought anything might be wrong about agreeing for us as young children to meet them?
If something had happened to any of us it now appears that our attempts to report it at the time would probably have been ignored or even if taken down not acted on. Likewise if we had gone to the press even the most seasoned journalists were being scared off by the potential of a costly libel action being immediately launched against them. In most cases the evidence that would have shown what was going on did not, because it was not put together to paint a full picture.
I hope the outcome of all this is that victims and survivors of serious sexual abuse will feel that they can come forward as they will be believed. It also shows that anyone can be a victim as offenders can be as skilled in avoiding detection as they are in manipulating their victims.
Rolf Harris produced many gags in his time, yet using them in relation to his current predicament misses the serious nature of his offences. Rolf the convicted sex offender is simply not funny.