News Digest

Gary Glitter faces rest of his life in prison after being jailed for 16 years

Former glam rocker Gary Glitter faces the prospect of dying in prison after being jailed for 16 years for a string of historical sex attacks on three schoolgirls. The 70-year-old, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was convicted of one count of attempted rape, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, and four counts of indecent assault. One of his victims included a girl who was less than 10 years old when he crept into her bed and tried to rape her in 1975. Glitter (pictured), who denied all the charges, also attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after inviting them backstage to his dressing room, and isolating them from their mothers.

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.

Judge McCreath

Glitter’s lawyer had told the court their client is “a very different man now”. However, Judge Alistair McCreath, who remanded the disgraced star in custody after the verdicts last month, told him his offences were “truly appalling”. Sentencing the singer Judge 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. 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.”