Rolf Harris accused of pouncing on blind and disabled woman 'like prey'

TV star Rolf Harris "pounced" on a blind and disabled woman "like prey" as he sexually assaulted her, a court has heard. The Australian-born entertainer allegedly groped the woman at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London in 1977.

Harris is appearing at Southwark Crown Court via video link from Stafford jail due to his ailing health after being imprisoned in 2014 for a string of indecent assaults carried out against four female victims.

The 86-year-old denies seven charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault. The alleged victims include a 12-year-old girl and a disabled woman.

The disabled woman, who has been blind since birth, had to walk with a stick at the time of the alleged attack. Aged 27 at the time, she said the incident was "as degrading as it gets" after being invited to meet the entertainer.

Jurors heard that the songwriter, who the alleged victim recognised by his voice, groped her all over her body when they met at the hospital. She said the TV star approached "from absolutely nowhere" and she could tell Harris was getting excited because his breathing got heavier.

"I have never met anyone who could spread their hands across my body so quickly," she said in a police interview, according to the BBC.

"They covered all my back really, really fast and he got his hands going up both sides of my body and he was saying, 'Well, don't you like this, then?' and I said 'No, I don't like it. Nobody has ever touched me like this. Get off!'"

He then allegedly replied: "Well, you can't see me." She said that Harris' conduct left her feeling "utterly trapped".

The woman said: "One (complainant) later described him as an octopus. I thought, 'That's exactly what it felt like, with his arms and fingers spread as far as he could spread them.'"

The court heard the woman claim that she repeatedly asked Harris to stop and she even bent Harris' fingers back to stop him touching her breasts during the alleged assault.

The court heard how, after the alleged attack, Harris taught her how to play a didgeridoo that he had brought along with him.

The trial continues.