Disgraced former pop star Gary Glitter sexually assaulted a girl as young as eight almost half a century ago after giving her chocolate, a court heard.
The paedophile glam rock singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, is facing one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 and three counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14.
The alleged abuse took place between 1978 and 1981, at Glitter’s home at the time in London, and relates to a single complainant.
The girl was aged between eight and 11 at the time, and cannot be identified for legal reasons.
The 82-year-old appeared virtually at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London via videolink from Channings Wood prison in Devon this afternoon.
He told the court he was ‘extremely deaf’ and relied on lip-reading, prompting a prison guard to relay information to the defendant.
He wore a blue shirt, and wore a cap and glasses as he sat behind a table.
He was not asked to enter any pleas during the 11-minute hearing.
Gary Glitter, pictured in 2015 after he was jailed for sexually abusing three schoolgirls
The glam rocker, pictured at the height of his fame in 1975
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay KC said the defendant ‘committed a number of, we say, serious offences’.
He added Glitter would give the girl chocolate.
The court heard Glitter denied the allegations.
There was a brief delay to the case when Glitter told the court he was unable to hear properly.
He said: ‘Excuse me your honour, I am extremely deaf unless I am lip-reading.’
Prosecutor Mr Polnay said he would stand away from the microphone in order to reduce distortion.
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring further remanded Glitter into custody ahead of his next appearance, at the Old Bailey on September 2.
Glitter, who was said to have ‘mobility issues’, stood to leave the prison room at the end of the hearing.
The Metropolitan Police previously said the allegations were first reported to the force on January 9 last year, and Glitter was interviewed on July 22, 2025, in relation to the investigation.
Former Greater Manchester Police detective and grooming gangs whistleblower Maggie Oliver said the alleged victim contacted police after first seeking support from her eponymous charity.
Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980. His sentence expires in 2031.
He was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
But he was recalled within weeks when police monitoring showed he had breached his licence conditions.
The offences for which he was jailed in 2015 came to light as part of Operation Yewtree, the Metropolitan Police investigation launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
He became the first person to be arrested as part of the operation when he was held at his home in the capital in October 2012.
Bethan David, deputy chief crown prosecutor at CPS London, said last month that prosecutors had ‘worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring this case to court and that it is in the public interest to do so’.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login