Paul Gadd, better known as Gary Glitter, has lost a bid for parole and will remain in prison. The former glam rock star was sentenced to 16 years in jail in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980. Although he was released in February 2019, he was returned to custody six weeks later after breaching his licence conditions.
A Parole Board panel has now decided to keep him behind bars on the grounds that he shows “a lack of victim empathy”. A summary of the panel’s assessment explained that the offender had previously shown “a sexual interest in underage girls” and had failed to attend or engage with any programmes on the matter as a prisoner. Additionally, he continues to deny any sexual interest in children.
The decision not to release Glitter was based on “the circumstances of his offending, the lack of progress made while in custody and on licence, and the other evidence presented at the hearing,” read the summary. “The panel was not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public.” The hearing took place in secret after a request by Glitter’s lawyers for it to be open to the public was refused.
Glitter’s first period of imprisonment came in the late 1990s, when he was jailed for possessing child abuse images. Later, he moved abroad but was sent back to the UK after being expelled from Cambodia in 2002 over allegations of sex crimes. In 2006, he was jailed for two-and-a-half years on charges of abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam.
News of the decision was welcomed by Richard Scorer, a lawyer representing Glitter’s victims. “This is the right decision and in our view the only decision that the parole board could have made,” he told the Press Association. “Everything we know about Gadd/Glitter indicates that he remains a risk to children and has never shown any remorse.”
Glitter, whose hits in the 1970s included I’m the Leader of the Gang (I am!), was one of several celebrities investigated in relation to historic sex offences following the launch of Operation Yewtree in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. Other high-profile figures caught up in the investigation include former entertainer Rolf Harris and celebrity agent Max Clifford
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More