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London: The jury deciding Rolf Harris's guilt on seven charges of groping young women and girls has been told they may return majority verdicts.
Judge Alistair McCreath gave the direction on Tuesday morning at the beginning of the jury's fourth day of deliberations at Southwark Crown Court in London.
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The jury in the 86-year-old's groping trial in London has retired to consider its verdicts. (Video courtesy: ABC News 24)
Harris has pleaded not guilty to groping girls aged 12, 13, 14 and 16, and three adult women including one who was blind.
He was given a small ray of hope on Tuesday, when the jury found him not guilty on one – alternative – charge of assaulting the 12 year-old, outside a radio station in Portsmouth.
However it is still open for them to judge him guilty of assaulting the girl after her 13th birthday.
During her evidence, the woman said she had not been sure of the date of the assault, though there was some evidence, including the order of autographs in her autograph book, suggesting she had not yet turned 13.
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On Tuesday morning after three full days of deliberations, the jury were told they could come back with majority verdicts – with at least 10 of the 12 jurors agreeing - on the remaining 7 charges.
In his closing speech to the jury last week prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said Harris was " adept at groping girls and women right under the noses of others".
Harris has pleaded not guilty to groping girls aged 12, 13, 14 and 16, and three adult women including one who was blind. Photo: AP
Given his previous 12 convictions for assault the "sad truth in this case is that the evidence establishes Mr Harris does have the propensity to commit this sort of offence," he said.
However defence barrister Stephen Vullo QC said the women who had accused the 86 year-old Australian entertainer of attacking them this time all had significant problems with their stories - which he said they had invented seeking money or fame.
"There are questions that are simply not answered by lapse of memory or being slightly inconsistent," he said.
"When you hear a body of evidence that makes no sense when you put it together … there's a reason for that and the usual reason is that it's not true."