Rolf Harris sex trial: 'Beg for sex' card sent to alleged victim

A letter to her father asking for forgiveness was also shown in court

A card with slogans about begging for sex that Rolf Harris sent to one of his alleged victims has been shown in court alongside a letter to her father asking for “forgiveness”.

The front of the card had a picture of a Beagle with the title: “All I need to know about life I learned from my dog.”

“If you stare at someone long enough, eventually you’ll get what you want. When it comes to having sex, if at first you don’t succeed, beg,” it continued.

“If it’s not wet and sloppy, it’s not a real kiss.”

Inside the card, Harris wrote a message about a bout of vertigo where he fell against a wall “like a drunk”, signing it “see you soon, love Rolf”.

The context of the strange message, sent in the early 90s when the alleged victim was in her 20s, was not explained.

The card was among evidence shown to the jury at Southwark Crown Court, in London, on Tuesday.

The veteran entertainer is accused of abusing a childhood friend of his daughter, Bindi, over several years starting when she was 13.

The woman, now in her 40s, told the jury she was first assaulted while she was on holiday with Harris and his family in Hawaii in the 1970s and the continued abuse drove her to alcoholism.

Harris claims they had a consensual sexual relationship after the woman turned 18.

A letter he wrote to the father of the alleged victim where he asks for forgiveness four times was also shown in court.

It says: “You said in your letter to me that you never wanted to see me or hear from me again, but now [the alleged victim] says it's all right to write to you.

“Since that trip up to Norfolk, I have been in a state of abject self-loathing. How we delude ourselves.

“I fondly imagined that everything that had taken place had progressed from a feeling of love and friendship - there was no rape, no physical forcing, brutality or beating that took place.

“When I came to Norfolk, [the alleged victim] told me that she had always been terrified of me and went along with everything that I did out of fear of me.

“I said 'Why did you never just say no?'. And [the alleged victim] said how could she say no to the great television star Rolf Harris!

“Until she told me that, I had no idea that she was scared of me.”

In the letter, he denied anything had happened when she was 13 and insisted nothing “in a physical way” happened until 1983 or 1984.

“When I see the misery I have caused [the alleged victim] I am sickened by myself. You can't go back and change things that you have done in this life - I wish to God I could,” Harris wrote.

“I know that what I did was wrong but we are, all of us, fallible and oh how I deluded myself. Please forgive me, love Rolf.”

Harris said his wife, Alwen, did not know about the matter at the time.

She accompanied him to court on Tuesday, along with their daughter and niece, Jenny.

The alleged victim was cross-examined by Harris’ defence team, who alleged there had been “sexual chemistry” between the pair.

Harris, of Bray, Berkshire, denies all charges. The trial continues.