Gary Glitter aka Paul Gadd is a convicted paedophile and the subject of ITV's latest documentary expose, which is an up-to-date, detailed account of the disgraced pop star who rose to fame in the 1970s.
The Oxfordshire criminal was born in 1944 and his best-known songs include I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am), I Love You Love Me Love and Always Yours. But he had a dark insidious side and his paedophilia first came to light in 1997 when he was caught with 4,000 images of child sexual abuse.
As of now, Glitter is still in prison after breaching his parole conditions following his release in early 2023. In February of this year it was reported by The Sun that his parole request was turned down.
Who is Gary Glitter and what were his crimes?Glitter: The Popstar Paedophile is a feature-length documentary and the first detailed up-to-date telling of the dark double life of Gary Glitter - real name Paul Gadd - who was viewed as an iconic performer in his 1970s heyday, yet was later exposed as a predatory child abuser. The documentary highlights how Glitter was able to evade justice for decades meaning he was free to travel abroad and continue offending.
Documenting his crimes committed both in the UK and across the globe, this new film weaves historical victim testimony, archive and interviews with those who met Glitter on the showbiz circuit, as well as lawyers involved in both the prosecution and defence of Glitter during the different trials across the decades.
The programme looks into how Glitter used his charismatic onstage persona to cover up his predatory offstage behaviour, meaning he was only brought to justice decades after lighting up the charts with a slew of catchy hits. Featuring contributors who have never spoken in a documentary about Glitter before - including his defence lawyer in Vietnam, the former Minister who fought to have him deported from Cambodia, and a lawyer representing one of his victims, this programme asks why those who suffered at the hands of Glitter in the UK were largely ignored when they first came forward.
Tiswas presenter Sally James, who met Glitter on the set of her programme, says: "If I think back now, no wonder Gary Glitter was always polite and nice to me, because then that gives him access to more children, more… whatever it is that he was trying to gain access to. Which makes it even more sickening when you think back."
In 1997, Glitter was finally arrested when graphic child pornography was found on his computer after he brought it into a Bristol PC World for repair. Glitter was later charged with sexual assault of children.
However, Glitter was not convicted of the sexual abuse charges relating to children in his 1999 trial. He was only found guilty of the possession of child pornography. After a brief jail term of just two months, Glitter would later flee the UK to Southeast Asia.
During the early 2000s, reports emerged that Glitter was abusing children in Cambodia and Vietnam, prompting a number of journalists to fly into Southeast Asia to seek out the truth. One of those journalists, Dominik Lemanski, recalls speaking to one of Glitter’s victims, who told him: “I will never forget the things Mr Gary did to me."
Glitter was subsequently arrested in Vietnam and, in 2006, he was convicted of committing sexual assaults on two Vietnamese children. Had Glitter been convicted of the previous sexual assault charges in the UK in his 1999 trial, it is likely that he would not have been free to travel to Southeast Asia to abuse children there.
Returning to the UK after serving nearly three years in a Vietnamese jail, Glitter would find a different climate post the ITV Jimmy Savile Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile documentary exposé. With attitudes towards historical sexual abuse changing Glitter became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree in 2012. He was charged with the historical sexual abuse of three children, and in 2015, he was convicted of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one of having sex with a girl under the age of 13.
In 2023, just weeks after he was released from prison after serving half of a 16-year sentence for those crimes, Glitter was returned to prison for violating the conditions of his licence.
Glitter: The Popstar Paedophile ITV1 & ITVX 9pm Tuesday, April 23. You can keep up to date with the latest TV and showbiz news by signing up to the newsletter here.
