ROLF Harris gained great “personal pleasure” from meeting young fans but never behaved inappropriately towards them, a court heard today.

The 87-year-old waved to photographers as he arrived at Southwark Crown Court in London this morning charged with offences that allegedly occurred in the 1970s and 80s.

His former agent told the court the BBC star “would kiss and cuddle children in a brotherly fashion but only if parents asked him.”

The musician allegedly groped three girls, aged between 13 and 16, during public appearances at the Lyceum Theatre in the West End, after filming for ITV's Star Games and in the green room of the BBC's Saturday Superstore.

Jurors today heard the entertainer was jailed in 2014 after being found guilty of sexually assaulting four women.

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They were also told he stood trial at the beginning of this year accused of similar allegations against seven women in which he was acquitted of some charges with the jury unable to reach verdicts on others.

Those charges now form the basis of his latest trial, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Harris still denies the complaints which saw him jailed almost three years ago and has launched appeal proceedings in an attempt to have them overturned, the court was told.

Kenneth Jeacle, who represented Harris for a decade from the mid-1980s, told jurors the star signed autographs for young fans "on every occasion" he performed.

The former agent said “He would be sitting or standing in an area where principally the audience were unable to reach him but that was not always possible.

“On many occasions Mr Harris would have to be seated on a stool by a table where he was surrounded by the audience.

“The sessions would sometimes exceed two hours of meet & greet and autograph signing following a concert or performance.

“There were several occasions in which these sessions lasted longer in time than the actual concert.'

Mr Jeacle explained that he would "endeavour to shorten" the sessions but Harris would plough on, refusing to "deprive them of that pleasure".

Harris is pictured after his release from prison

He went on to tell jurors he was “99.99% certain” that no autographs were ever pre-signed and stacked up prior to sessions while they were in each other's company.

He added: “Mr Harris whole intention was to have personal contact, shall we say, with his audience.

“If they wished to meet him, it was his desire to allow them to meet him and he always got personal pleasure out of having meetings with his audience and people in the street.”

Mr Jeacle denied a claim Harris would “pull” young fans on to his lap, added: 'I have seen and witnessed Mr Harris conversing with children at the instigation of their parent, guardian or whatever.”

When asked if he had ever seen the entertainer "acting inappropriately with any of his fans", he replied: “Categorically never.”

Barry Booth, Harris' musical director for 'more than a quarter of a century' from the early 1970s after the pair had worked together in television.

Harris is alleged to have pulled a 14-year-old girl onto his lap and slipped his hand up her skirt when she asked for an autograph at another event.

He is separately accused of twice groping a third girl, aged 16, after being paid £100 to appear on ITV celebrity show Star Games in 1978, and telling her she was "a little bit irresistible", the court heard.

Harris was pictured being sneaked out of prison early on Friday morning.

He denies four charges of indecent assault.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

The entertainer pictured with his wife Alwen

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