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This was published 1 year ago
Paedophile Gary Glitter released from prison in the UK
By Rob Harris
London: British pop paedophile Gary Glitter has been freed from prison after serving eight years of his sentence for sexually abusing three young schoolgirls.
The former pop star, now 79, walked free from HMP The Verne - a low security jail in Dorset - on Friday morning (UK time). He had completed just half of his 16-year fixed-term determinate sentence.
Gary Glitter, photographed outside a court in Ba Ria, Vung Tau, Vietnam, in March, 2006.Credit: AP
His early release sparked anger among survivors of sexual abuse, with Slater and Gordon’s Richard Scorer - who represents one of Glitter’s victims - saying it was “particularly distressing and traumatic” for those he attacked.
“Our client feels this was not the justice she was promised and the early release devalues her suffering and that of his other victims,” Scorer said in a statement, adding Glitter had never apologised for his crimes.
“Like every victim of serious sexual assault facing early release of her abuser, today is an incredibly difficult day for her. The abuse, including repeated rapes which our client suffered from the age of 12, have left her with a life sentence.”
Singer Gary Glitter in March 1986.Credit: Tom Smith
News that Glitter would be released early from prison emerged in February last year. An offender who is convicted of a sexual offence is released on a strict licence, which can include being barred from having unsupervised contact with children and using the internet.
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, found fame in the 1970s as part of the glam rock scene, scoring No.1 hits with I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am), I Love You Love Me Love and Always Yours.
His fall from grace began almost 25 years ago after he admitted to possessing 4000 child pornography images; he was jailed for four months in 1999.
In 2002, he was expelled from Cambodia amid reports of sex crime allegations, and in March 2006 he was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam, where he spent two-and-a-half years in jail.
Gary Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London in February 2015.Credit: AP
Several historical allegations only came to light nearly 40 years later when Glitter became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree, the investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
He was sentenced in 2015 for attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one of having sex with a girl under 13. One victim was less than 10 years old when he crept into her bed and tried to rape her in 1975.
Glitter denied allegations against him, but was found guilty after a trial lasting three weeks.
The court heard Glitter preyed on his vulnerable victims whose claims he thought would not be believed because of his celebrity, prosecutors said. He separated them from their mothers by taking them backstage to his dressing room at one of his shows.
Detective Chief Inspector Michael Orchard, from Operation Yewtree, said Glitter was a “habitual sexual predator who took advantage of the star status afforded to him”.
Confirming Glitter’s release, a spokesman for Britain’s Ministry of Justice said: “Sex offenders like Paul Gadd are closely monitored by the police and Probation Service and face some of the strictest licence conditions, including being fitted with a GPS tag.
“If the offender breaches these conditions at any point, they can go back behind bars.”
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