Rolf Harris ‘sexually assaulted’ Vanessa Feltz
Paedophile Rolf Harris sexually assaulted TV presenter Vanessa Feltz and singer Linda Nolan, it has been claimed.
The two celebrities came forward to publicly reveal the alleged abuse after the disgraced Australian star, 84, was jailed for nearly six years for a string of sex attacks on girls as young as seven.
Miss Feltz, 52, claims Harris inched up her leg and put his hand inside the elastic of her knickers in front of millions of viewers while she was interviewing him live on The Big Breakfast.
She claimed in the Sunday Express that Harris attacked her while she was was filming the ‘On The Bed’ section of the show in May 1996 – and while his wife Alwen was in the room.
Miss Feltz said she noticed “a rustling” at the hem of her dress and felt Harris’ hand creeping up her leg.
She said: “I was on live television so I could not look down but I sensed that his hand was at the bottom of my dress and he was slowly gathering the fabric up and moving his hand higher and higher up my leg.
“He was carrying on talking as though nothing was going on, smiling and joking, as he moved his hand further up.
“Suddenly his hand had reached my knee and he was still going up and travelling at speed. I was so shocked. This was Rolf Harris. I could clearly see his wife. How could this possibly be happening? But of course, as he knew perfectly well, I could not say anything.”
The TV star, who was married at the time, said she wanted to put her hand out to stop Harris, but she was live on TV and was terrified of doing something that would upset the millions of children watching the show.
She said: “Then I felt his hand on my thigh. He was inching higher. I was not wearing tights or stockings and I sensed nothing was going to stop him.
“After a few seconds he had managed to get his hand inside the elastic of my knickers and I was absolutely staggered.”
The shocked star said she couldn’t simply “stop and tell the viewers Rolf Harris is assaulting me” so she cut to an advert break and and jumped away from Harris.
But she said she has no doubt the Australian got a thrill from carrying out the alleged attack live on air.
She told police about the alleged assault, but the judge at Harris’ criminal trial ruled the evidence could not be admitted because defence lawyers had not been given enough time to consider it.
Meanwhile Miss Nolan claimed she was just 15 and on tour with her sisters when Harris groped her breasts in a corridor.
The star, 55, said she was in a dressing gown and was on her way to get ready for a performance when the disgraced entertainer pounced on her backstage at the concert in South Africa in 1975.
She said: “He suddenly came out of nowhere and in seconds his hands were all over me.
“He came right up to me and got me in a huge bear hug. His arms were all over my back, right around me so his hands were touching the sides of my breasts.
“He rubbed up and down and started kissing and licking the back of my neck.”
Miss Nolan said Harris eventually stopped, but she was left feeling “dumbstruck” and “humiliated” at the alleged attack.
Both women waived their legal right to anonymity to reveal the alleged abuse.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said police did not comment on the identity of alleged victims of sex assaults.
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