London police arrested aging former pop star Gary Glitter early today on charges of sex offenses in connection with the ongoing probe into late BBC DJ Jimmy Savile’s child abuse claims.
Scotland Yard says it’s following about 400 lines of inquiry into the Savile case. The late star is accused of sexually abusing some 300 young people over 40 years. Met Police in London said officers from Operation Yettree arrested “a man in his 60s in connection with the investigation.”
The man, from London, was arrested at approximately 7:15 BST on suspicion of sexual offences. The individual falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed ‘Savile and others’.
Savile is accused of abusing hundred of young girls and some boys, and police have described him as being ‘a predatory sex offender.”
1. Glitter’s Been in Trouble for This Before
Today’s arrest isn’t the first time Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, has been in troublewith the law. He was jailed in Vietnam back in 2006 for child sex charges. He’d moved there in 2005, and late that year when he was 61, Vietnamese police charged him with molesting girls ages 10 and 11 at his home. The age of consent in Vietnam is 18.
2. He’d Faced the Death Penalty
Child rape charges carry a death sentence in Vietnam, but prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence for that charge, so Glitter was instead charged with child sexual abuse and sentenced to three years in prison. He appealed and his sentence was reduced by three months.
3. He’s Not Allowed in Asian Countries
After Glitter was released from prison in August 2008, he returned to London just three days later, after he was refused entry into Thailand or Hong Kong.
In addition to the charges of having sex with the two girls in question, six other girls, ages 11-23 said he had sex with them too.
4. Glitter Paid Off the Girls’ Families
His sentence included mandatory deportation, and he had to pay $315 to each of the girls’ families. Pretty cheap fun, isn’t it? And of course, he said he was framed by British tabloids, and he “knows the line not to cross.”
5. He Denies He’s a Pedophile
In an interview with the BBC in May 2006, Glitter claimed not to knowingly have sex with anyone under the age of 18, and he “would be be very angry” about people having sex with children. However, he didn’t comment then about a conviction of possession of child pornography, and accused the media of paying local girls to meet up with him a bar for a photo shoot.
But he and Jimmy Savile go back a long way. Earlier this month, a woman came forward and said she saw Glitter raping a 13-year-old at the BBC Center in the 1970s, while Savile was busy groping a 14-year-old in the same room. Another entertainer, said to to be a ‘household name” who still performs, was there, too.
6. Expect Some More Familiar Names to Be Arrested
According to The Telegraph, up to 15 celebrities from back in the 1960s and 70s, from both Britain and the United States, are supposedly “frightened to death” they’ll end up implicated in the scandal.
They say their hedonistic lifestyles back in the days of free love and sex meant they “never asked for anyone’s birth certificate.”
7. There’s No Evidence of a Pedophile Ring
Some allegations involve people close to Savile but detectives say there’s no evidence that there was a pedophile ring at the BBC. They say Savile appears to have been acting alone and that he used his fame to sexually abuse young people.
8. Incidents Were Reported Before Savile Died
It emerged last week that at least seven of Savile’s alleged victims went to police in the years before he died, but Savile wasn’t charged, and the investigation didn’t begin until after his death.
Scotland Yard said a retired officer had told them he investigated Savile in the 1980s but did not have enough evidence to proceed.
9. One of Savile’s Assaults Happened on Live TV
A woman came forward over the weekend to complain that Savile molested her on live TV, and had the video to prove it. She said she was sitting by him while he was presenting Top of the Pops in 1976, when he put his hand up her skirt and felt her up. She was a teenager and he was in his 50s by that time.
And if you watch the video closely, he feels up the young lady in front of him too. That’s two girls in a matter of just seconds.
10. That Incident Was Covered up Too
The woman, now 55, said she was a 19-year-old trainee hairdresser when her abuse occurred. She said she was so upset she ran to a BBC employee and told on Savile. But she says the employee got angry and told her to get lost because Savile was only “messing around.”