Gary Glitter, Disgraced Rocker Convicted of Child Sex Abuse, Back in Prison One Month After Release

Gary Glitter, the disgraced glam rocker convicted of child sex abuse charges, is back in prison just over a month after he was released on probation, The New York Times reports.

The musician, real name Paul Gadd, reportedly violated the terms of his probation, though the U.K. Ministry of Justice didn’t offer any specifics. In a statement, the ministry said, “Protecting the public is our number one priority. That’s why we set tough license conditions and so when offenders breach them, we don’t hesitate to return them to custody.”

While not confirmed, Gadd’s return to prison comes several days after the British tabloid, The Sun, said it had obtained a video of Gadd at a bail hostel, using a smartphone, and appearing to ask someone about potentially accessing the dark web. “So what do I do next, then? Let’s try and find this Onion. One step at a time,” Gadd reportedly said in the clip, “Onion” being a reference to the Tor dark web network. 

Gadd — whose biggest U.S. hit was the arena anthem “Rock and Roll (Part 2)” — was released from prison halfway into a 16-year sentence handed down in 2015 after he was convicted of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault, and one of having sex with a girl under the age of 13. Those charges stemmed from multiple incidents that occurred between 1975 and 1980 and were tied to the pedophile scandal involving Top of the Pops host Jimmy Saville.

Upon his release in March 2023, it was reported that Gadd would be “closely monitored” by police and probation officers via GPS. Authorities added he would face the “strictest” conditions upon release and that if he breached them at any point, he could “go back behind bars.”

Richard Scorer, a lawyer for one of Gadd’s victims, tells Rolling Stone, “I welcome Glitter’s recall to prison. Glitter is a man totally without any remorse and my client has always been clear that he represents a serious risk to the public… I hope that he will serve the whole of the rest of his sentence behind bars, where he belongs. That said, I am very concerned as to why it took an undercover investigation by a newspaper to expose breaches of license conditions. Were probation really monitoring him properly or are we now reliant on media to do this? We need answers from the probation service on this urgently.”

Gadd, who is 78, has spent the better part of the past 23 years in prison, starting with a 1999 child pornography conviction. Following his release from prison on those charges, he moved to Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, which expelled him in 2002 due to suspected child sexual abuse charges. He later showed up in Vietnam, where he was convicted of committing obscene acts with underage girls. He avoided the death penalty by firing squad but was sentenced to three years in a Vietnamese prison, after which he was deported back to the U.K. Immediately upon his return to the U.K. in 2008, he was placed on the country’s Sex Offenders Registry. In 2012, he was arrested and charged in connection with the Savile scandal.