Gary Glitter’s rise and fall – Glam rock icon to vile child sex attacker as he leaves jail

Gary Glitter was released from prison today after serving half his 16-year sentence for abusing young girls. The former glam rock icon’s vile secrets were exposed when he took his computer for repairs

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Disgraced paedophile pop star Gary Glitter freed from jail

Paedophile Gary Glitter has been released from jail after serving half his 16-year sentence for sexually abusing schoolgirls, including one as young as 10.

The disgraced pop star was at the height of his fame in the glam rock era of the 1970s when he began preying on his vulnerable victims.

He went on to be convicted of possessing child pornography before being jailed in the UK and abroad for vile sex attacks on underage girls.

His latest conviction only came to light decades later when he became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree, the police investigation launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The now 78-year-old was freed from prison this morning and will be required to sign the sex offenders register and adhere to strict licence conditions.

Here we look back at the rise and fall of the man who was once a music icon.

Glitter shot to fame in the early 70s after embracing glam rock (

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Getty Images) Troubled childhood

Gary Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was born on May 8, 1944, in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

He had a troubled childhood, never knowing his father. His young mother and grandmother, who brought him up, often struggled to cope.

Things came to a breaking point for the family at the age of 10 and Glitter and his brother were taken into care. Glitter became known as a tearaway and would often run away to London to perform in clubs when he was just 12.

Years later when he was on trial for possessing child abuse images, Glitter claimed he had been abused as a child himself and blamed his actions on “trying to work my own feelings out.”

Marriage and kids

Glitter married Ann Murton in July 1963 at the age of 19. The couple went on to have a son, Paul, the following year and in 1966 welcomed a daughter called Sarah. Both would be in their 50s now.

Ann and Glitter divorced in 1972 and he has never remarried. But it emerged he had fathered another son, named Gary Jnr, in February 2001 when he was living in Cuba with his then girlfriend Yudenia Sosa Martinez.

Glitter was 28 when he shot to fame as a rock singer (

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WireImage) But by 1980 he was declared bankrupt and tried to take his own life (

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Mirrorpix) Rise to glam rock star

Fame wasn’t instant for Glitter and he performed under a number of names such as Rubber Bucket, Paul Russell and Paul Raven, before hitting the big time.

In 1972 he got his big break at the age of 28 when he changed his stage name to Gary Glitter and embraced the glam rock scene with his over-the-top outfits, including silver Elvis-style suits and huge platform boots.

His breakthrough single Rock And Roll (Parts 1 And 2) reached number two in the UK charts and number one in America. The next year he scored a string of chart hits, including I Didn’t Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock And Roll), I Love You Love and Do You Wanna Touch Me.

But his most famous track – and first UK number one – was in the summer of 1973 with I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am).

Bankruptcy and suicide attempt

By 1975 Glitter had sold 18 million records and was at the height of his musical fame. He owned a Hampshire mansion and drove a Rolls Royce, but towards the end of the decade he was declared bankrupt.

His debts were blamed on his drug taking and heavy drinking. The death of glam rock also didn’t help with his public image and his popularity began to wane.

The singer was declared officially bankrupt in 1980 owing the Inland Revenue £170,000. It was around this time he reportedly tried to take his own life.

In 1986 he also needed hospital treatment after accidentally taking an overdose of sleeping pills.

His career saw a brief revival in the 90s – but then it all went wrong (

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Popperfoto via Getty Images) Career comeback

Despite his financial woes and struggles with drugs and booze, Glitter bounced back in 1984 with comeback single Dance Me Up. After some time away in Australia and France, he also turned to Buddhism and become a vegetarian.

The song Another Rock And Roll Christmas was released, reaching number 7 in the UK singles chart, and is considered Glitter’s most successful song since 1975. It was also his final UK top 40 hit.

In the early Nineties, Glitter found new fame when Oasis paid tribute to him on their second album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? when they sampled his lyrics to his 1973 hit Hello, Hello, I’m Back Again.

It is thought this earned him £1 million which he reportedly spent on a yacht.

In court in Vietnam, where he narrowly avoided the death penalty (

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ExpressStar) His dark side emerges

But behind the scenes, something more sinister was going on. In November 1997, Glitter’s life changed forever when he took his computer to a repair shop and an engineer discovered thousands of child porn images on it.

After reporting this to the police, Glitter was arrested and in 1999 jailed for four months after pleading guilty to 54 offences of making indecent photographs of children under 16. He only served two months in prison and was freed in January 2000.

Upon his release he quit the UK and travelled to Spain, Cuba and then Cambodia, where he is kicked out the country after facing allegations of sex crime.

He moved to Thailand in 2002, before going on to the Vietnamese coastal resort of Vung Tau.

Vietnam conviction

In March 2006, the shamed singer stood trial accused of engaging in sexual acts with two Vietnamese girls, aged 10 and 11.

He evaded the more serious charge of child rape, which carries a maximum penalty of death by firing squad, and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Two years later he was ordered to return to the UK after spending two-and-a-half years in jail.

Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015 for sex crimes dating back to the 1970s (

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PA) Operation Yewtree

In October 2012, Glitter becomes the first person to be arrested under the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Yewtree – the investigation launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

He is charged with 10 counts of sexual offences involving two girls aged 12 and 13 who he invited backstage to his dressing room in the 1970s. A third victim was just 10 years old when he crept into her bed and tried to rape her in 1975.

After standing trial at Southwark Crown Court in January 2015, Glitter was found guilty of one count of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13 and jailed for 16 years.

The former singer tried to get his conviction overturned in the court of appeal, but the case was thrown out.

He had been in prison for eight years until the now 78-year-old was released from HMP The Verne in Portland, Dorset earlier today.

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