Police mugshot: Gary Glitter faces a life sentence... and an investigation into new abuse allegations

Gary Glitter is likely to die behind bars after being convicted yesterday of sex attacks on three schoolgirls.

The 70-year-old former glam rocker’s final downfall came amid outrage that he was granted legal aid to fight the case, despite being wealthy enough to rent a £2million London home and receiving an estimated £300,000 a year in royalties.

Child abuse charities said it was a ‘disgrace’ that the prolific sex offender was able to plead poverty and use tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to hire a top QC.

But yesterday a jury took just two days to convict him 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 at the height of his fame in the 1970s and 1980s.

He attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after inviting them backstage to his dressing room and hotel suites, where the champagne flowed before he forced them to have sex with him or molested them when their mothers left.

Glitter’s youngest victim was only eight when he crept into her bed and tried to rape her in 1975. Now it can be revealed that Glitter faces a fresh police quiz over new allegations. A source close to the inquiry said police were ‘assessing new information’ which emerged during the trial.

He is likely to be questioned about an alleged attack on a 12-year-old girl in a hotel bath in 1977 after a key witness came forward during the case.

Anne Glover, a chambermaid working at the Holiday Inn in Leicester, said she walked in on Glitter in the bath with a similar-aged girl the same year.

She told police: ‘I immediately recognised Gary Glitter as I had seen him thousands of times on the telly.’

She reported to her supervisor that the girl looked 12, only to be told: ‘Well, you know what they’re like.’

Miss Glover’s evidence was not presented to the jury after objections from Glitter’s barrister.

Glitter – real name Paul Gadd – was warned he could be jailed for life after being convicted of having sex with a girl under 13. Attempted rape and indecent assault carry maximum sentences of seven and five years respectively under laws in force at the times the offences occurred.

Glitter (pictured left leaving Southwark Crown Court this week and right in his heyday) attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after inviting them backstage to his dressing room and hotel suites

The prolific sex offender (pictured) faces a fresh police quiz over new allegations. A source close to the inquiry said police were ‘assessing new information’ which emerged during the trial

Judge Alistair McCreath said he will carefully consider the ‘totality’ of Glitter’s crimes, then remanded him in custody. Dressed in a fur jacket and dark glasses, Glitter handed his expensive watch and phone to his lawyer and blew a kiss to the public gallery before being led to the cells.

His three victims only went to police in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. Now it can be revealed that Glitter was accused of raping a girl under 14 in Savile’s dressing room at BBC Television Centre in the 1970s.

Karin Ward, a former pupil of Duncroft boarding school for emotionally disturbed children in Surrey, told an ITV documentary on Savile: ‘I saw Gary Glitter have sex with a girl in Jimmy Savile’s dressing room. I think she might have been not quite 14.’

MOMENT HIS SECRET ALMOST SURFACED ON THIS IS YOUR LIFE Embarrassed: Gary Glitter on This is Your Life Footage resurfaced last night of Gary Glitter squirming on television as he thought his secret obsession with under-age girls was going to be revealed. In a 1992 episode of This is Your Life, Roald Dahl’s daughter Tessa told how Glitter stayed with her family when he was ‘between jobs’ and was often surrounded by schoolgirls who paid £5 to ‘gaze’ at him. The singer fidgets in his seat, loosens his scarf and puts a finger to his lips in a bid to silence Miss Dahl, who is also an author. Speaking to host Michael Aspel, she says: ‘My sister Lucy turned it into quite a successful venture. ‘She used to pack the train full of adolescent school friends in school uniform and they’d skive school. ‘She would bring them to the house and would charge them £5 a head to come and gaze at the Glitter.’ Addressing Glitter, Miss Dahl – the mother of model and TV presenter Sophie – added: ‘The house actually turned into a sort of Gary Glitter fan club outpost, which you quite liked.’ Glitter, who had already committed several sexual offences at that point, laughs nervously. Glitter’s paedophilia was exposed when he took his computer containing 4,000 images of child abuse to be fixed at PC World in Bristol in 1997. The Dahl family had no knowledge of his crimes. The singer signals for Tessa Dahl (right) to stop revealing secrets about his secret obsession with under-age girls, who apparently paid £5 to 'gaze at 'the Glitter' Advertisement

Glitter’s fall from grace came in 1997 when he took his computer into PC World in Bristol, where technicians discovered 4,000 images of child porn.

Jurors were told he had pleaded guilty in 1999 to 54 charges of downloading child porn. During that trial Glitter wept as he denied any sexual interest in children, but the sickening images from Japanese websites included children as young as two being tortured, tied up, gagged, blindfolded and savagely beaten.

I saw Gary Glitter have sex with a girl in Jimmy Savile’s dressing room. I think she might have been not quite 14 Karin Ward

He was also accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old fan, who claimed he subjected her to a series of humiliating sex acts, making her call him ‘daddy’ and dress in a school uniform during their 12-year relationship.

But a jury at Bristol Crown Court acquitted Glitter in 1999 after a magistrate ruled that other evidence of the attempted rape on the eight-year-old girl in 1975 could not be presented to the jury because of the delay in the victim coming forward. That decision was overturned at the High Court last September when the victim came forward again along with two other women following the exposure of Savile.

Following his conviction for child pornography, Glitter was thrown out of Cambodia for suspected child abuse in 2002 before being locked up for three years in Vietnam for lewd acts against two girls aged ten and 11.

Following his release in August 2008, he returned to the UK after being refused entry to 19 countries and in 2012 he was the first to be arrested under Operation Yewtree – the probe arising from the Savile scandal.

MILLIONS IN ROYALTIES... BUT HE GOT LEGAL AID Gary Glitter’s use of legal aid to try to escape justice was condemned as ‘outrageous’ by campaigners last night. Despite receiving a reported £300,000 in royalties a year, the 70-year-old paedophile somehow qualified for financial help. Now he has been convicted, the Ministry of Justice pledged to claim back the five-figure cost of his defence, most of which was spent on his QC. The disgraced ex-rock star is understood to have made some small contributions to the legal bill. The signer's use of legal aid during the trial (pictured) to try to escape justice was condemned as ‘outrageous’ by campaigners last night Under official rules, anyone aged under 18, a person on benefits or who has a gross annual income of less than £22,325 is eligible for legal aid. Those with income above this threshold could still apply for a hardship review. Glitter lived a flamboyant and comfortable lifestyle at odds with his constant pleas of poverty. A taxi delivered him to court every day from the £2million mansion flat he has rented for almost 20 years in London’s trendy Marylebone. Dr Jon Bird, of the charity the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: ‘It’s an outrageous waste of public money for this man to get legal aid. ‘First of all, he did not plead guilty, therefore making his victims go through the trauma of giving evidence and now it is known that he abused other people.’ The Legal Aid Agency said: ‘Defendants can be made to pay a substantial monthly contribution towards their legal costs. ‘If they are found guilty we take all steps necessary to recover the full costs of their defence, meaning that hardworking taxpayers do not have to pay the legal bills of convicted criminals where they can afford to pay themselves.’ Advertisement

Yesterday Detective Chief Inspector Michael Orchard, from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: ‘Paul Gadd has shown himself to be a habitual sexual predator.

‘His lack of remorse and defence that the victims were lying make his crimes all the more indefensible.’ Glitter will be sentenced on February 27.

Rolf Harris spent two days this week being questioned by detectives over fresh allegations of historic sex abuse.

The 84-year-old was moved from his cell at Stafford Prison so he could be quizzed by officers from Scotland Yard’s Operation Yewtree.

More than ten women came forward to accuse the disgraced artist and singer of molesting them after his conviction last July. He is serving a sentence of five years and nine months for indecently assaulting four girls in Britain between 1968 and 1986.

The brave fans who told of his twisted attacks

Glitter’s three victims told the court how he stole their innocence when he attacked them backstage after concerts and at his ‘magical’ mansion

Gary Glitter’s three victims, now all in middle age, told the court how he stole their innocence when he attacked them backstage after concerts, in hotel rooms and at his ‘magical’ mansion.

THE SLEEPING SCHOOLGIRL

Glitter's youngest victim was eight when she visited his mansion – said to be a ‘magical place’ for little girls.

When the pop star pulled up at her home in his Rolls-Royce, the girl felt ‘really lucky’ to be invited to his home, where she met stars such as Alvin Stardust.

But on a later occasion, after he had hosted a dinner party, the drunken singer pounced on her, attempting to rape her while she slept next to another girl.

The victim, who is now a nurse in her 40s, sobbed as she told how the assault left her bloody, in pain, and feeling ‘ashamed and dirty’.

The woman said: ‘He put his arm around and started to cuddle me. He started moving my nightie up. I didn’t want him to.’

Glitter showed no remorse and taunted her about the attack a number of years later, laughing as he told her to give ‘Uncle Gary’ a cuddle, saying: ‘Do you remember what I did to you? Did you like it?’

The victim went to the police in 1998 when she heard that Glitter had been arrested for child pornography.

THE BESOTTED FAN

Her bedroom was plastered with posters of Glitter. So when the 12-year-old fan and her mother were introduced to their idol backstage at a nightclub in Leicester in 1977, the schoolgirl was ‘ecstatic’. The woman, who is now in her 40s, recalled how Glitter signed her gold jacket and plied her with Moet champagne after luring her back to his suite at the Holiday Inn.

But when her mother was led away by Glitter’s songwriter to ‘lay down’, the pop star moved in, scooping up the champagne and glasses in one hand and taking the girl by the other and leading her to a bedroom.

The youngest victim went to the police in 1998 when she heard that Glitter had been arrested for child pornography. His previous convictions include sexual assaults in Vietnam (where he is pictured in 2006)

She told jurors: ‘He said never, never touch his hair, nobody’s allowed to touch his hair.’

He then had sex with her ‘throughout the night’. Alone and scared, she complied for fear of letting her mother down. The next day, when her mother collected her, she said: ‘He grabbed my head, pulled me over to him, gave me a kiss and said “you are a really clever girl, you got dressed before your mum came”.’

THE BACKSTAGE GROPE

The adoring fan was just 13 when Glitter thrust his hand up her skirt and made her promise it was their ‘secret’.

She met him backstage at a nightclub in Watford.

Now 49, the woman sobbed as she told jurors he slid his hand up her skirt during the ten-minute assault and asked her if she liked it.

‘He said it was his and my secret,’ she said. ‘I said I wouldn’t tell anybody.’