Yvette Fielding says she was sexually abused by Rolf Harris in Blue Peter

Yvette Fielding has revealed she was sexually abused by Rolf Harris during her time as a Blue Peter presenter.

In an interview with The Sun, the 55-year-old revealed that disgraced comedian and artist Harris, who died last year aged 93, squeezed and patted her bum.

Fielding, who became the children’s show’s youngest ever host in 1987 at the age of 18, said the encounter occurred early in her five-year stint.

She said: “It was very confusing and shocking – just bizarre to imagine Rolf Harris squeezing and patting my bottom and me standing there thinking, ‘I don’t know what to do’.”

“Other people in the industry must have known what he was like and you left me alone in the studio with him.”

“That should not have happened.”

Harris was a BBC stablemate, hosting Cartoon Time at the time of the incident, and seemingly kept it up for years.

However, in 2014 he was convicted of indecent assaults on four girls and young women and sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. It was released under license in 2017.

Fielding left Blue Peter to work on shows such as What’s Up Doc? and later “Most Haunted,” which she is still working on today with producer husband Karl Beattie.

She said it was a “different time” working in show business when she was 18 and that butt pats were “everyday occurrences”.

“In my day, it didn’t matter what was happening: ‘Is the show doing well, are we getting good ratings?’

“‘Yes, we are, go ahead. Let’s go through everything and move on.’”

Fielding said she also had the misfortune of encountering disgraced sex offender Jimmy Savile when the presenter was on the show.

“He took my hand and started stroking it. “Look into my eyes,” he said, “and tell me what you think,” she said.

“He was grotesque.

“I just don’t understand why the BBC allowed him to get away with it for so long.”

The BBC has been contacted for comment.

Harris was a family favorite for decades before his dramatic downfall after being convicted of a series of indecent assaults on young girls.

After being stripped of his honors, he died of throat cancer and old age in May last year at the age of 93.

Savile spent much of his career at the BBC, presenting shows such as Top of the Pops and Jim’ll Fix It.