Paedophile popstar Gary Glitter back in prison after breaching release conditions

Gary Glitter, real name Paul Gadd

Nina Lloyd

March 13 2023 07:10 PM

Paedophile pop star Gary Glitter has been recalled to prison following a breach of his licence conditions.

The 79-year-old, who had a string of chart hits in the 1970s, had been freed in February after being jailed in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls.

He left HMP The Verne – a low security category C jail in Portland, Dorset – following eight years behind bars, having served half of his 16-year sentence.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was subject to licence conditions on his release, including being closely monitored by the police and Probation Service and fitted with a GPS tag.

A Probation Service spokesperson said: “Protecting the public is our number one priority. That’s why we set tough licence conditions and when offenders breach them, we don’t hesitate to return them to custody.”

His re-release will be a matter for the Parole Board.

Glitter’s return to prison comes after he was filmed using a smartphone and appearing to enquire about the dark web.

A video filmed by another prisoner at his bail hostel and obtained by the Sun on Sunday shows Glitter appearing to reference search engines that protect a user’s privacy.

He says: “Shall I get rid of this duck duck?”

An unknown person replies: “Yeah, I wouldn’t bother using that if I were you.”

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Glitter then says: “So what do I do next, then? Let’s try and find this onion. One step at a time.”

It is thought that Glitter was referring to DuckDuckGo, a search engine that claims to protect users’ privacy.

Meanwhile the dark web, which allows users to access illegal and violent content, is only accessible through a series of encrypted Tor networks, with many having a .onion URL.

Former detective superintendent Michael Hames, who set up the Metropolitan Police’s Paedophile Unit told the Sun that “onion” is a slang term for the dark web.

The UK’s Ministry of Justice said sex offenders face restrictions on their internet use and risk being recalled to prison if they breach these conditions.

The footage comes after Glitter was released from prison last month, half-way through his 16-year sentence for the historic sexual abuse of three girls. As part of the conditions of his release he was to spend three months at the bail hostel, in an undisclosed location.

Glitter attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after inviting them backstage to his dressing room. His third victim was less than 10-years-old when he tried to rape her in 1975.

Previously, he admitted possessing 4,000 child pornography 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.