Gary Glitter groomed 12-year-old sister of biographer Lesley-Ann Jones for a year before being exposed as a pedophile
Infamous English glam rock star Gary Glitter was a very popular musician back in the 1970s and '80s. The man was known across the country for his extreme glam rock image complete with glitter suits, daring make-up, platform boots, and his spirited live performances.
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, has sold more than 20 million records and has also had 21 hit singles that placed him in the Top 100 UK as a successful chart act. He was on top of the world for many years and then, his fall from grace began.
From 1997 onwards, Glitter was back in the media but it was for committing sex offenses, receiving jail time for downloading child pornography in 1999, and being imprisoned for child sexual abuse and attempted rape in 2006 and again in 2015. The BBC previously described Glitter's decline in public view as "dramatic" and "spectacular".
By the time the latter part of the 90s came around, Glitter's image was tarnished beyond repair. This came after his first arrest in 1997 and then his 1999 conviction in the UK for downloading thousands of items of child porn. He had also been charged with sexual activity with a minor in the 1970s but was acquitted of the crime.
Acclaimed biographer Lesley-Ann Jones recalled in an interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) how she met and befriended Glitter. The glam rock star had kept in touch with her for a year with the intention of grooming her young sister. LAJ told us: "I was presenting a television program for Channel Four in 1984 on Fridays. We were at the stadium one day when we recorded the program as live with all the interviews and performances. It was quite a social day."
"And my sister, who was 12 at the time, during school holidays, she likes to come down to the studio with me and meet the stars. That was a treat for her. And she met Gary Glitter in the green room at the studios and he was very attentive towards her and he was quite sweet to her actually. He looked after her and he made jokes and he got her drinks and things. Everybody just thought he was being, you know, uncle Gary. And after this day he started phoning me and asking me to go out for dinner and meet him for a drink."
The author then said that Glitter slowly started asking to spend more time with the sisters. It began with him saying he would go to Brighton where he had a boat and wanted LAJ to spend long weekends with him. She also said that he would ask her to bring her sister on these trips as well.
LAJ said: "At the time, I just thought he was being nice, you know, very naively that he was showing an interest in my sister and that he just wanted to be friendly. It didn't really occur to me until many years later when he was arrested for child sex crimes, that he'd been grooming us. He had groomed me to get to my sister and then he had groomed her. The only saving grace was that I'd never left him in a room with her alone so she had always been safe. But it was a very uncomfortable feeling that I would have been responsible for something happening to her because I introduced her to this friend of mine."
Many years after the author and her sister lost touch with Glitter, he faced criminal charges and deportation from multiple countries in connection to actual and suspected child sexual abuse. The former rock star was deported from Cambodia on suspected child sexual abuse charges in 2002.
He then settled in Vietnam where a court found him guilty of obscene acts with minors in 2006. After he served his sentence, Glitter was finally deported back to Britain where he was then placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life. In October 2012, Glitter was arrested yet again as part of Operation Yewtree, which was a Metropolitan Police investigation into sexual abuse against British media personalities. He was bailed out but was then charged in June 2014, with historical child sex offenses.
Finally, on February 5, 2015, he was found guilty of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault, and one of having sex with a girl under the age of 13 between 1975 and 1980. Then, on February 27, 2015, he was sentenced to a total of 16 years behind bars where he remains to this day.
'Tumbling Dice' by Lesley-Ann Jones is available to order at amazon.co.uk.