GLITTER: ACCUSED POP PERVERT PREPARES TO MEET HIS FATE
Jurors in the child sex abuse trial of former Glam rock icon Gary Glitter were warned to treat the star ‘the same as any other’ as they retired to consider their verdicts today. (Weds).
Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, was at the height of his fame and popularity when he allegedly crept into bed with a sleeping schoolgirl – who was under 10 years old – and tried to
rape her following a party in 1975.
He is also accused of abusing two besotted fans after meeting them backstage after shows at nightclubs in Leicester and Watford.
The ageing rocker insists he cannot remember the girls and denies ten
charges dating between 1975 and 1980.
The 70-year-old, who wore a grey overcoat, burgundy scarf and dark glasses in the dock, listened with the aid of two lip-speak interpreters.
Today (wed) Judge Alistair McCreath said: ‘I need hardly say this but I say this nonetheless. All witnesses whether they come from the dock or wherever else they come from, you will treat the same as any other.
‘You will judge them by the same fair standards.’
The former chart-topper achieved notoriety in 1997 when a vast collection of 4000 sickening snaps of child porn were discovered on his laptop after he dropped it off for repair at PC World in Bristol.
Glitter pleaded guilty and ‘admitted responsibility’ to 54 child porn offences in 1999.
The shamed star wept in the witness box as he told jurors ‘I am sorry, I’m sorry, I’m very sorry’ for his ‘curiosity’.
Addressing jurors Judge McCreath said: ‘The first question which you will have to address is whether the fact that he had an interest in 1997 means that he would have the same interest more than 20 years earlier.’
He added: ‘If you are satisfied of that then the evidence can be of relevance.
‘But however take care with it, don’t let your natural sense of revulsion about such material allow you to use it against Mr Gadd in a way that is prejudicial or unfair.’
He added: ‘You have heard all the evidence that you are going to hear, it is no good I’m afraid asking for more.
‘But if there is an aspect of the evidence you would like further help with you need only ask.’
One alleged victim, now 50, sobbed as she told jurors she was given her first taste of champagne by Glitter when she was just 12 years old at Baileys nightclub in Leicester.
The star took her to the nearby Holiday Inn before subjecting her to alcohol-fuelled abuse ‘throughout the night’, it was said.
Glitter allegedly attacked the adoring fan again in a hotel room in Birmingham when she was 13 years old.
A second girl, now 48, was introduced to the star by her mother, who had connections in the music industry.
Her ‘idol’ invited her onto his lap, before forcefully kissing her and sliding his hand up her skirt, Southwark Crown Court has heard.
It took the her more than 30 years to break her silence, only confiding in her family in 2012 and reporting the allegations to the police in January 2013.
Jurors also heard from a third alleged victim who was under 10 years old when she claims Glitter crept into bed with her and tried to rape her following a party in 1975.
Glitter, of Bickenhall Mansions, Bickenhall Street, Marylebone, west London denies attempted rape of a child and an alternative count of indecent assault when she was under the age of 13 in the mid-1970s.
He denies a further charge of plying a 12-year-old with alcohol to have sex with her and a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse.
He also denies four counts of indecently assaulting the alleged victim between 31 January 1977 and 31 December 1977.
Glitter further denies two further charges of indecent assault relating to a third complainant between October 1979 and December 1980.
The trial continues.
ends
