Children's TV celebrity denies city sex assault

The Australian-born artist, 86, is accused of indecently assaulting the girl under the age of 14 outside Radio Victory in 1977.

He denies the charge and six others of indecent assault, and a charge of sexual assault, between 1971 and 2004.

Harris entered the pleas at London’s Southwark Crown Court today.

Some of the offences were allegedly committed at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane in west London.

The seven allegations are:

n Indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 at the Lyceum Theatre in London in 1971.

n Indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 outside Radio Victory in Portsmouth in 1977.

n Indecent assault on a disabled woman over the age of 16 outside a London hospital in 1977.

n Indecent assault on a woman over the age of 16 at Jesus Green in Cambridge in 1978.

n Indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane over the Christmas period in 1983.

n Indecent assault on a woman over the age of 16 at Terminal’s Studios in London in 2002.

n Indecent assault on a woman over the age of 16 at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane in 2004, and the alternate charge to this is one count of sexual touching on a female aged 13 or over at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane in 2004.

Harris is due to appear in court on July 29 for a procedural hearing.

He will stand trial on January 9 next year.

The former television star is already serving a six-year sentence at Stafford prison for sex offences against four girls.