Matthew Steeples details his experiences with the trolls supporting Rolf Harris as his daughter, Bindi Nicholls, strangely contradicts herself on the Internet in a rant in support of this convicted paedophile
It is perfectly legitimate for a daughter to defend her father but in taking to the Internet to comment on a Change.org petition seeking to release her convicted paedophile father, Bindi Nicholls, the daughter of the disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris, has gone too far.
In a comment to accompany her signature of the petition, London based fine artist Nicholls – whose unseemly emails to her father demanding to know whether she was the sole inheritor of her parents’ £11 million fortune and whose ex-husband gave crucial evidence detailing how she had broken down and told him that Harris had abused one of her childhood friends during their marriage –remarked:
“Rolf Harris is my father, I have known him all my life, he is a kind sweet, honest man on stage and off. He has worked tirelessly all his life to bring joy, laughter, inspiration and happiness to all he meets. He is a workaholic, work is his priority and he lives to entertain. I have never witnessed him being interested on [SIC] children in that way, EVER. In public he is more interested in getting groups of people singing or telling jokes than sculking [sic] off with one person, he is just nothing like the man the press have been portraying him to be. All of his dear friends are shocked and desperately upset that he has been tarred by the propaganda out there. He has been swept up in a witch hunt because of his high profile and celebrity! A total travesty at his age”.
Given Nicholls’ previous comments about her father – including remarks such as: “You [Rolf Harris] will spend 10 minutes entertaining their little kid but what about me?” and “You [Harris] only come to life when strangers approach you wanting your autograph” – it is notable that she has now chosen to contradict herself at a time when her paedophile father faces yet more allegations and potential law suits. One simply has to ask if these are the actions of a genuinely loving daughter or, in fact, just a woman with money on her mind.
Turning to the Change.org petition itself, the originator is someone who goes by the name Anne Pyke. With just 20 followers on Twitter and a handle that states: “Frustrated by the corruption that imprisons innocent people in England! Free Rolf Harris! An innocent man targeted and framed by our corrupt ‘establishment’”, the somewhat ambiguous Pyke has only tweeted 65 times since joining the social media site in January 2015. Tellingly, aside from rants about Harris’ innocence, the account’s first tweets were retweets of those of a woman named Lizzie Cornish.
Having been amongst the first to expose Rolf Harris’ arrest in 2013 and written about his case extensively in the time since, I came to the attention of Cornish – whose own Twitter handle reads: “ROLF HARRIS IS INNOCENT! I’m a woman pissed off by Lying Women, &also [sic] by Greedy De-Sensitized Corporate Bastards who seem intent on ruining my Beautiful Planet” – and have had to put up with ranting email missives from her and others demanding to know why I have not chosen to support their “hero”. I have mostly blocked these individuals but frankly their tenacity speaks volumes and I would suspect that Anne Pyke and Lizzie Cornish could, in fact, be one and the same person.
Of the 407 signatures on the petition, several have left comments admitting they have signed it twice but one perhaps sums up best what might also motivate Bindi Nicholls. Written by someone named Kris Finch from Liverpool, it reads:
“I have spent the past 50 years collecting Rolf Harris memorabilia, that collection was my pension and unless Rolfy is pardoned it’s worthless”.
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I think all of us would want convictions to be safe ones and there does seem a case to re-examine Rolf Harris’e, including a complainant with a significant financial motive who’d sold her story to the media in Australia and another who changed her story mid way through the trial. Those guilty of such crimes should certainly be punished, but equally those innocent should not be wrongly convicted. When celebrities (or politicians) are involved, an extra layer of complication is added.
At the moment we have a tsunami of allegations of this nature. Accusations that are easy to make, difficult to prove and even more difficult to disprove. Which is worse, a guilty man going free or an innocent man being jailed?
Do you work for the dirty old pervert? What a load of **** [EDITED FOR PROFANITY] you right. Rolfy Baby was convicted fair and bloody square!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nope, just disturbed by the fact that people are increasingly being convicted without any evidence whatsoever, that the police are now instructed to refer to complainants as ‘victims’ whether or not crimes have occurred and that an increasing number of complaints are coming to court and resulting in convictions which are then overturned on appeal (after the victim of the false accusation has had their life destroyed) when it’s proven that the complainant lied. Celebrities (and anyone known or suspected to have money) are particularly vulnerable.
Better a worthless collection than a life without worth…..
I shouldn’t think that Mr. Finch needs to worry about frittering away his pension on “memorabilia” no matter what people think of Mr.Harris. He has enough passionate support from those who have made him a British Hero that his “memorabilia” will surely go up in value. Hitler’s comb went for a fortune. Calm yourself, Mr. Finch.
I was interested in the comments by the person who said he was a retired police officer. How many policemen believe it is possible to determine guilt or innocence on the basis of impressions – none, a few, some, many? It is, of course, tragic that the current round of prosecutions is entirely focused on media personalities while the politicos are only convicted posthumously or not charged at all
Miss Pyke is asking for a review of the trial by the government body responsible for justice because she can see inconsistencies and flaws in the evidence. Rolf Harris is innocent until proven guilty. He has not been proven guilty if the trial was flawed and a review is the correct way to determine next steps.
Why do you refer to yourself in the third person? Is this because you are in fact Lizzie Cornish?
Mrs Cornish signed twice because at first her comment didn’t post properly. She requested that her first signature be removed and it was removed immediately.
It is the way I use the English language when addressing one person through a wide party of strangers on a weblog. No I am not Mrs Cornish.
Your views are VILE and we would prefer you ceased to leave comments on our pages. Thank you.
Certainly not. If you make inane nonsensical utterings regarding people you have no knowledge of; pick a name from a petition that is no business of yours; tell people to ignore me even though you have never met nor spoken to me, ever; insult facetious comments instead of having the modicum of intelligence needed to read it in context, then no!
Broadcast that I am in fact somebody else whom I have never even met….definitely not. I’m not going anywhere.
This will be your last comment here Anne Pyke. Take this as notice that like your “friend” Lizzie Cornish you are now banned from commenting on articles on The Steeple Times. Apologists for the paedophile and pervert Rolf Harris are NOT welcome here. He is a convicted and jailed criminal and your support for him is repugnant. Pip pip!
Well done Matthew!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anne Pyke is definitely one and the same as Lizzie Cornish. They even write in the same style. Ban all paedophile supporters. They are just as bad as those they stick up for.
I find this a ‘petty’ article on behalf of this newspaper!
I’m personally just interested in fairness and the “facts” and to myself, there is something ‘hugely’ amiss with this case.
So Mr Steeples, when Anne returns with a “factual point” which explains the ‘facts’ in respect of a post being placed twice.
This is more about ‘you’ showboating Mr Steeples, and following the crowd… than any real interest you may have in actual real justice!
This piece is unworthy of a serious broadsheet, but more reminiscent of the sensationalistic tabloid press, which has contributed to ‘many’ an innocent person being vilified!
Oh, and unfortunately I see little in the way of “wisdom” unfortunately, in this article…
The facts are clear mate… Rolf Harris abused children and a jury convicted him. He is now rightly banged up chum. If you think anything else, you’re f***ing thick!!!!!!!!
And you are following like a sheep or lemming… over a cliff of idiocity.
Sean Sebastian White – Your motivations are questionable but frankly please cease and desist. Otherwise you’ll have to just join Lizzie Cornish and Anne Pyke.
It’s from a low baseline moral persuasion, when someone attempts to stop ‘others…’ speaking freely, and certainly raises questions in respect of the strength, and confidence those who seek to do this – actually have in their own statements.
Everyone deserves a fair trial, and my point is that I am far from convinced this has taken place!
This is my primary motivation.
A issue with the Harris case is that one of the complainants has (online) admitted lying (if the campaigners are to be believed) which seems to be very good grounds for an appeal, if not a judicial review of the case.
Paedo Harris was CONVICTED. He can appeal against his CONVICTION. We have two examples above of Fake profiles and then anyone can then come along on line, claim they are the real deal, admit they lied, the earth is flat etc.
If the said person appears in public and states that, then it might be more believable. So such matters as an online confession have absolutely no credibility at all. I know it won’t happen because the said person would then be facing a charge of Perjury and joining Peado Harris in jail. I won’t hold my breathe until it happens. Of course Paedo Harris is entitled to appeal against his CONVICTION and until such time as he is UNCONVICTED he remains as guilty as hell. However for those with any interest in his money, and I suspect the victims have higher claim to that, you can be happy to think about the bed and board he is receiving at her Majesties pleasure which comes free of charge. I expect he is happy swapping yarns with Gary Glitter.
Some years ago, I saw Rolf Harris being interviewed on TV by Samantha Fox. She repeatedly failed to get his name right and kept referring to him as ‘Ralf’ instead of ‘Rolf’. Granted, Ms Fox doesn’t come across as the sharpest knife in the box, but Harris’s reaction was way out of proportion. He completely lost his temper and flew into an absolute rage at her. Quite disturbing to watch and it showed a very unpleasant side to him.
For my part, I have no doubt as to Harris’s guilt. What clinched it for me was the letter he wrote. In amongst his excuses, he did actually admit that the victim had feared him and he accepted responsibility for her problems. No one who truly believed they were in a consensual loving relationship would have written such a thing. And let’s face it, even if she had been 18 (which I don’t believe), why would a teenager want to start a relationship with someone as physically repulsive as him, especially when he was over 50? He’s no Brad Pitt, to put it mildly.
That’s before we even get onto the fact that the other victims did not know each other, yet had very similar stories to tell with regard to his modus operandi. Or the fact that porn of young-looking girls was found on his PC along with instructions as to how to delete it.
That petition is beyond a joke. Even if it got a decent number of supporters, there’s not a hope in Hell that Chris Grayling (who is no longer the Secretary of State for Justice, anyway) will do anything about it. Not least because Harris has missed his chance to appeal. I look forward to Change deleting it in due course.
Hi Ella. Thanks for the update on the person who a matter of hours ago was made Secretary of State for Justice – Michael Grove it appears. On what grounds do you state that Rolf Harris has misses his chance to appeal?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2856608/Rolf-Harris-dropped-bid-appeal-12-sex-assault-convictions-meaning-ll-spending-two-half-years-bars.html
I see. Thanks Matthew. I realise that nowadays if you are a man, you dare not place your hands on a child – for fear of your simple gesture being misinterpreted. Very hard now if you are a touchy-feely sort of person – as most artists are – so to describe him as an octopus make seem appropriate in the current clime, but am personally not convinced that in the 60’s and 70’s or even 80’s that people perceived bodily contact in the same way.