Rolf Harris requires around the clock care for neck cancer

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris is said to be battling neck cancer as friends claim he has become "gravely sick" in the five years since he was released from prison.

The convicted paedophile, 92, lives with his wife of 64 years Alwen Hughes in the village of Bray in Berkshire, 30 miles outside London near Windsor. She suffers from Alzheimer's disease and the couple are said to rarely leave their home.

Reports suggested that the former Animal Hospital star's health took a turn for the worse after the sudden death of his beloved poodle earlier this year.

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Neighbour Portia Wooderson told the Daily Telegraph: "Only carers and nurses, who care for him 24 hours, come and go. I'm told he can't eat anymore."

The Australian was a much-loved entertainer in the UK until his arrest in 2013 and he was later found guilty on 12 counts of indecent assault.

Private investigator and author William Merritt confirmed Harris was "gravely sick" in comments reported by the Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Merritt said: "[He's] battling a cancer of the neck, and gargles when he talks. It's difficult to understand him, but he is still the entertainer.

"As soon as one of two people walk into the room, he turns into a big kid again. He's an artistic type, and he'll try to perform on cue, even when he's unwell."

Harris hasn't spoken publicly since his release from jail in 2017 but released a statement in Mr Merritt's recently released book Rolf Harris: The Defence Team's Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials.

He said: "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 [Jimmy] Saville and [Gary] Glitter.

"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."

Of the 12 convictions, one was overturned on appeal in November 2017, and a jury chose not to convict him in two additional cases in the same year.

Harris married his sculptor wife Alwen in March 1958 after meeting at art school. The couple have one daughter Bindi.
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