Lakeside darts venue to remove picture of sex offender Rolf Harris from wall

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Lakeside Country Club, one of the oldest and most iconic venues in darts, will remove a picture of Rolf Harris that had been hanging on a wall.

Only last weekend it hosted the latest big event on the recently formed World Seniors circuit, the Masters, won by Canadian David Cameron, who defeated 16-time world champion Phil Taylor in the final. There were numerous other legends of the game in action, including Keith Deller, John Lowe, Bob Anderson and John Part, who rolled back the years to the delight of the fans in attendance.

However, an unwanted blast from the past also emerged from the tournament after Lowe tweeted an innocent picture of himself at the Lakeside.

“Nice to be here in flesh, and still in the gallery at Lakeside,” tweeted Lowe in front of a montage of many of the darts players and entertainers who have performed at the venue.

That gallery unfortunately still included a picture of disgraced entertainer Harris – the convicted sex offender, who was jailed for five years and nine months in 2014 for 12 indecent assaults between the 1960s and 1980s. Following his conviction, which left his career in ruins, he was stripped of many of the honours that he had been awarded during his career, including the AO (Order of Australia) and the CBE.

Daily Star Sport contacted the Lakeside to ask if the photo of Harris would be removed. Joanne Potter, a director of the company and daughter of Lakeside owner Bob Potter, said she didn't realise a photo of Harris was still on show and would look to remove it immediately.

She said: "We've got hundreds of pictures. It's like seeing an old piece of furniture every day, you don't notice it when you're actually here.

"We will take a look around and see if we can locate it. We've got no problem taking it down. We don't want people like that on our wall."

• Darts

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