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Gary Glitter was told by the judge that his sexual abuse of young girls had caused real and lasting damage.
Gary Glitter was told by the judge that his sexual abuse of young girls had caused lasting damage. Photograph: Metropolitan police/EPA
Gary Glitter was told by the judge that his sexual abuse of young girls had caused lasting damage. Photograph: Metropolitan police/EPA

Gary Glitter jailed for 16 years for sexual assault of three schoolgirls

This article is more than 9 years old

Former glam rock star, real name Paul Gadd, sentenced for six sex offences against three girls, aged between eight and 13, in 1970s and 80s

The former glam rock singer Gary Glitter faces the prospect of dying in jail after being sentenced to 16 years for sexually abusing three schoolgirls.

The 70-year-old, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was found guilty of one count of attempted rape, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, and four counts of indecent assault. All six offences were committed in the 1970s and 80s.

Glitter, dressed in a black velvet coat and burgundy scarf, showed no reaction as he was led from the dock after being sentenced at Southwark crown court in London on Friday.

There was standing room only in the court as loyal fans of the singer gathered in the public gallery to watch the sentencing.

Judge Alistair McCreath said: “I have read the victim impact statements of all three victims. It is clear, in their different ways, they were all profoundly affected by your abuse of them.

“You did all of them real and lasting damage and you did so for no other reason than to obtain sexual gratification for yourself of a wholly improper kind.”

He added: “The offences for which I must pass sentence today took place many years ago at a time when in particular, in respect of one of them, the maximum sentence was considerably lower than that which is now available.”

He said earlier that the guidelines dictated that he must take the current sentencing options into account.

Glitter, from Marylebone, central London, had denied the allegations against him.

He was cleared at trial of one count of plying a girl under 13 with alcohol in order to facilitate sexual intercourse, and two further counts of indecent assault.

Habitual sexual predator Glitter was jailed after being found guilty following a three week-long trial. He was at the height of his fame when he preyed on his vulnerable victims, who thought no one would believe their words over those of a celebrity.

He attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after inviting them backstage to his dressing room and isolating them from their mothers.

The 70-year-old’s youngest victim was younger than 10 years old when he crept into her bed and tried to rape her in 1975.

Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter performing in 1975. Photograph: ITV/Rex Features

The allegations came to light only nearly 40 years later when Glitter became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree, the investigation launched by the Met in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Sentencing Glitter, McCreath branded his abuse of a girl under 10 as “appalling”. He continued: “It is difficult to overstate the depravity of this dreadful behaviour.”

Referring to the second girl, whom he attacked after a nightclub performance, the judge added: “The 12-year-old victim came with her mother to one of your concerts. You invited them both to your hotel and created a situation in which her mother was taken out of your suite of rooms to another place, leaving you with this sexually inexperienced child.

“All of this happened because and only because of your fame. You kept her in your room all night.”

He concluded: “I note that in 2011 you sought out professional help to understand your sexual attitudes and behaviour. I am in no position to decide what your true motivation was in seeking this treatment, whether it was to come to terms with your past and to change your attitudes and behaviour or it was to persuade the authorities to allow you to travel abroad.

“But one thing is certain and important in the context of this sentencing exercise. Whatever changes may have been effected in you by this treatment, they did not include any admission at all on your part of the wrong that you had done, in particular of the offences of which you now stand convicted.”

The judge reiterated that he found no evidence that Glitter had “atoned” for his offences.

Glitter suffered a spectacular fall from grace in 1999 when he admitted possessing 4,000 child abuse images and was jailed for four months in 1999.

In 2002 Glitter was expelled from Cambodia over unspecified allegations, and in March 2006 he was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam.

Glitter was jailed for seven years for one count of attempted rape against his first victim, to run consecutively with an eight-year sentence for unlawful sex with a girl under 13 - the second girl.

He was given 12 months’ imprisonment for the attack on his 13-year-old victim. He was sentenced to an additional five years for the remaining three counts of indecent assault, to run concurrently.

Responding to the 16-year sentence, Mark Castle, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, praised the courage of the shamed singer’s victims. He said: “Glitter was convicted not because of forensic evidence or eyewitness accounts, but because jurors saw through his lies and believed his victims’ testimony.

“This prison sentence is testament to the courage Glitter’s victims showed in reporting their ordeal and bravely confronting this serial paedophile in court.”

Scotland Yard said it had received other information in light of Glitter’s conviction, which was “currently being assessed”.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Gary Glitter victim seeks about £500k damages for ‘terrible impact’ on life

  • Gary Glitter sued by victim over psychiatric damage caused by abuse

  • Gary Glitter: all the former singer’s sexual abuse convictions

  • Former pop star Gary Glitter must stay in prison, parole panel decides

  • Gary Glitter’s early prison release ‘not the justice’ victims were promised, lawyer says

  • Why did Gary Glitter only serve half his prison sentence?

  • Gary Glitter will not receive Joker royalties, say rights holders

  • Gary Glitter loses appeal against conviction

  • The Gary Glitter fans who still follow the leader

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