Gary Glitter to Be Charged with Child Sex Offences

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Jun 5, 2014

Seventies glam rocker Gary Glitter is set to be hit with eight sexual offence charges stemming from incidents involving girls aged 12 to 14, including drugging a teenager in order to facilitate sex, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed.

The former pop star, real name Paul Gadd, had been arrested in October 2012 during the Operation Yewtree inquiry against English television host Jimmy Savile and was interrogated by authorities for nine hours but has been on bail since then. An ongoing investigation by the Crown Prosecution Service has now stated that evidence submitted as recently as this past March has given them reason to bring the case to trial, the Guardian reports.

"We have carefully considered the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police Service in relation to Paul Gadd, also known as Gary Glitter," chief crown prosecutor Baljit Ubhey said today (June 5). "Having completed our review, we have concluded, in accordance with the code for crown prosecutors, that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Mr. Gadd to be charged with eight offences under the Sexual Offences Act 1956. These relate to two female complainants aged between 12 and 14 at the time of the alleged offending between 1977 and 1980."

Gadd is accused of four counts of indecent assault against a first complainant, who is said to have been between the ages of 12 and 13 during the alleged incidents that took place between January and May 1977. Additionally, he will be charged for "administering a drug or other thing in order to facilitate sexual intercourse" and one count of sexual intercourse with a girl under 13.

He also stands accused of two counts of indecent assault against a second complainant, who was between the ages of 13 and 14 when the incidents were alleged to have taken place, between October 1979 and December 1980.

An additional five allegations between two other complainants were dropped, with the Crown Prosecution Service citing "insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction."

Glitter had previously been convicted of possessing child pornography in 1999 and had served four months in a UK prison. In 2005, he was arrested in Vietnam, where he had been living at the time, and charged with molesting two underage girls. After spending more time in prison over committing obscene acts with minors, he was released in 2008 and moved back to the UK, where he is a registered sex offender.

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