Renovation work has begun at the former riverside home of convicted sex offender Rolf Harris, after developers acquired the property for £1.6million.
The once-prized address, set beside the River Thames in Bray, Berkshire, was purchased earlier this month by Deborah Developments International Ltd.
Following the sale, residents nearby said work crews quickly moved in and began stripping away reminders of the disgraced television entertainer from the neglected mansion.
Builders were seen removing furniture, including chairs and tables, and knocking through doorways at the property, which had become increasingly overgrown during the years it sat empty.
Curtains that had long remained shut while Harris was bed-bound on the ground floor before his death from neck cancer at the age of 93 have also been taken down, exposing the area where he spent his final days.
One workman told the Daily Mail he had not been aware Harris had lived at the house when the clearance and gutting work began.
However, a neighbour said the home — where the former entertainer abused one of his victims — “should be torn down”.
The Berkshire property was originally listed for sale last year with a £4million asking price, before that figure was later reduced.
The once sought-after home, sits on the River Thames in Bray, Berkshire and was bought by Harris in 1980
Work on Rolf Harris’s old home began this week after the dilapidated property was sold for £1.6million
The disgraced TV star was convicted of 11 counts of indecent assault and sentenced to five years in prison in 2014
It later went to auction with a guide price of £1.95million but the house failed to reach its reserve after bidding stalled at £1.52million.
It was eventually sold to Deborah Developments International Limited, which is run by Elaine Burke and Peter Titterell.
Their catering business has worked on blockbuster films including the 1999 James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough.
One former neighbour of Harris’s said she still has paintings he drew for her grandchildren though they are now worth ‘nothing’.
‘We thought the house would be pulled down but it didn’t make the reserve at the auction,’ she said. ‘A friend of ours was going to buy it but decided it wasn’t viable.
‘To be honest, we never had any problems with Rolf, to us he was quite a fun neighbour.
‘He used to come to parties and do pictures for our grandchildren which, of course, would be worth nothing now.
‘If we had a get together he would be there playing the piano. We had never had a problem but, obviously, there were problems.
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In his final years, Harris lay bed-bound on the ground floor of the mansion. The curtains have now been removed as work began
The mansion was initially listed on the market for £4million before the asking price was slashed
Harris pictured with his wife Alwen who died after suffering a stroke in 2024
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‘The house has been empty for some time so I’m not sure what they’ll do with it, it’s a bit tainted really.’
The sale comes after Harris’s only daughter, Bindi, inherited the property along with the bulk of his £16million estate.
Harris bought the riverside home in 1980 with his wife, Alwen Hughes, at the height of his fame and they lived there for decades.
In March 2013, Harris was one of 12 people arrested for questioning over historical allegations of sex offences as part of Operation Yewtree.
He was subsequently tried at Southwark Crown Court in 2014 on multiple counts of indecent assault against four female victims, aged between eight and 19.
After undergoing a lengthy trial at Southwark Crown Court in 2014, Harris was convicted of 11 counts of indecent assault and sentenced to five years in prison.
Following his conviction, he was stripped of his official honours including his CBE and Order of Australia and served nearly three years at HM Prison Stafford before his release on license in 2017.
He returned to living at the property and remained out of the public eye until his death in 2023.
A new documentary called Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator revealed the home was searched by police during Operation Yewtree in 2013.
It also claimed Harris was viewing indecent images of children there on the day of the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert in 2012, before later appearing in a televised birthday tribute watched by millions.
Following Harris’s death from throat and neck cancer, Alwen died after suffering a stroke in 2024.
