Gary Glitter Convicted of Attempted Rape, Sex With a Minor

UPDATE: Gary Glitter has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on multiple sex abuse offenses. The Associated Press noted that Glitter “showed no response” upon sentencing. 

Glam rock singer Gary Glitter has been found guilty of numerous sex abuse offenses committed against three young girls in the 1970s, the Associated Press reports.

A London jury convicted Glitter (real name Paul Gadd), 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. He will be sentenced on February 27th. In Britain, the maximum sentence for unlawful sex with a minor is life in prison. 

“Paul Gadd has shown himself to be a habitual sexual predator who took advantage of the star status afforded to him by targeting young girls who trusted him and were in awe of his fame,” Detective Chief Inspector Michael Orchard said. “His lack of remorse and defense that the victims were lying makes his crimes all the more indefensible.”

Gadd was arrested in 2012 as part of Operation Yewtree, a national investigation into sexual abuse, specifically in regards to children, launched after hundreds of accusations of sexual assault were leveled against late BBC host Jimmy Savile. Gadd would later be charged with eight sexual offenses involving girls aged 12 to 14. 

This conviction is the latest for Gadd, who has been arrested and found guilty of sexual offenses with minors numerous times. In 2003, he was deported to Vietnam from Cambodia after being held in jail there over allegations of sexual abuse; in 2006, he was sentenced to three years in a Vietnamese prison for sexually abusing two young girls. In 1999, Gadd was convicted in Britain for possessing child pornography and spent four months in prison.