Rolf Harris fast-tracked to cushy prison unit and dodges tough Wandsworth jail
Paedophile Rolf Harris went straight to a cushy prison, despite reports he was going to do hard time at a tough jail, reports the Sunday People.
Staff at Wandsworth expected to see the pervert, who indecently assaulted a girl as young as seven, but he never showed up.
Instead he was taken to Bullingdon prison in leafy Oxfordshire to serve his five years and nine months.
Some saw the sentence as too lenient and it is being considered by the Attorney General.
The “soft” jail move adds to beliefs the disgraced veteran entertainer has had special treatment.
Harris, 84, convicted of 12 indecent assaults, was jailed at Southwark Crown Court earlier this month but did not spend a night in Wandsworth.
A source said: “The way Harris has been treated is highly unusual.
"If you’re convicted of a serious crime at Southwark Crown Court, you’d always get sent to Wandsworth, no questions asked.
“There should be no special treatment on grounds of age and there is a hospital at Wandsworth so even prisoners in poor health can be treated there.
“Normally lags in Wandsworth look forward to getting shipped out to Bullingdon.
"If you’re doing a lengthy stretch and you behave yourself in the first few years, you might get moved there as a reward for making good progress.”
Bullingdon, near Bicester, is recognised for its work with older inmates and offers just over 1,000 category B and C prisoners a range of work, training and education.
Victorian Wandsworth can hold nearly 2,000 lags, including category A and B prisoners.
The source believes it was always planned to send Harris to Bullingdon “for convenience”.
He said: “Bullingdon has a smaller population and Harris will have to be watched.
"Whether other inmates try to get at him, or they just want to taunt him, he will always attract attention.”
Since Harris was convicted of indecently assaulting four girls in the 60s, 70s and 80s at least a dozen women have come forward in his native Australia and New Zealand to claim he molested them.
Harris has also been accused of groping singer Linda Nolan, 55, and TV host Vanessa Feltz , 52, who said he put his hand inside her knickers on live TV as she as interviewed him on The Big Breakfast.
An NSPCC spokesman said any suggestion Harris was receiving favourable treatment sent out the wrong message.
The Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the pervert.
Are you disputing Rolf Harris is Guilty?he has had a fair trial and was represented by the best money can buy, he could certainly remember the words to Jake the Peg when he sought to influence the jury.
One of Rolf Harris' victims has told Sky News his request to appeal his conviction is "an insult".
Lawyers for the disgraced entertainer lodged papers at the Court of Appeal this week, the Judicial Office has revealed.
One of the women who gave evidence against him during the trial told Sky News: "I perhaps should have expected it but it is still a shock."
The victim who cannot be named added: "It feels like such an insult and just beyond belief for him to do that."
The artist and musician was convicted at London's Southwark Crown Court on June 30 of 12 indecent assaults and sentenced to five years and nine months in jail.
The appeal papers will go before a single judge who will decide initially whether or not Harris has grounds for appeal.
The Judicial Office confirmed to Sky News that no timescale had yet been set for the process.
If permission to appeal is granted then a full hearing at the Court of Appeal would fully assess Harris’ case.
If, however, he is denied permission to appeal then he would be able to reapply.
One of the assaults was on an eight-year-old autograph hunter, two on girls in their early teens and another on a close friend of his daughter.
Earlier this week, Attorney General Jeremy Wright confirmed Harris' sentence would not be referred to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that it was too lenient, despite 150 complaints that the jail term was not tough enough.
The artist and TV presenter's offences took place between 1968 and 1986 against girls aged between seven or eight and 18.
He was prosecuted in line with the laws in place at the time of his crimes - when the maximum jail term for indecent assault was two years, or five years if the victim was under 13.
He's still in denial, like all of the so called celebrities he can't believe he's been caught, so lets see if I can buy my way out with the best council, the sad part is it actually shows what contempt he has for his victims, should his attempt fail his sentence should be extended because he shows no remorse.