Paedophile pop star Gary Glitter loses parole bid to be freed from jail
7 February 2024, 10:32 | Updated: 7 February 2024, 11:05
Disgraced paedophile pop star Gary Glitter has lost a Parole Board bid to be freed from jail.
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Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980. His sentence expires in February 2031.
The 79-year-old disgraced former glam rocker was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February last year after serving half of his 16-year fixed-term determinate sentence.
He was put back behind bars less than six weeks after walking free for breaching his licence conditions by allegedly viewing downloaded images of children.
The summary of the Parole Board panel's decision said: "It found on the evidence that at the time of the offending, and while he was on licence, Mr Gadd had a sexual interest in underage girls.
"There was also concern about the lack of victim empathy which he had continued to show."
While his behaviour in prison had been generally good, he had not taken part in any programmes to address his offending because he continues to deny having a sexual interest in children.
His probation officer said that Gadd could not be safely managed in the community.
The panel found that "greater internal controls and open and honest disclosure by Mr Gadd would be needed to manage his risks safely in the community".
One of Gadd's victims, who was abused by the performer at the age of 12, is taking legal action against him in the High Court.
Ahead of his parole hearing in January, which took place in private, she accused him of showing contempt for his victims and a total lack of remorse.
Glitter's fall from grace began in the late 1990s when he was jailed for possessing thousands of child abuse images and 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 and spent two-and-a-half years in jail.
The offences for which he was jailed in 2015 came to light as part of Operation Yewtree, the Metropolitan Police investigation launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
