Sex attacker Gary Glitter loses appeal

16-year jail sentence upheld

Former pop star Gary Glitter – who was found guilty of sexually abusing three schoolgirls – yesterday lost a challenge against his conviction.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal in London threw out the case brought by Glitter, who was jailed for 16 years in February.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, argued that he did not have a fair trial.

But the judges ruled that there was nothing “unsafe” about his conviction.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court found him guilty of one count of attempted rape, one of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, and four counts of indecent assault. Glitter, now 71, from Marylebone, central London, denied the allegations against him.

He was not present in court tohear the judges dismiss his application for permission to appeal.

Glitter was found guilty of abuse relating to a girl aged 12, one of 13, and another aged under 10, committed when he was at the height of his fame.

Allegations against him only came to light decades later when he became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree, the investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Lord Justice Treacy, Mrs Justice ElisabethLaing and Sir David Maddison rejected Glitter’s complaints centred on adverse publicity, the trial judge’s refusal to stay the proceedings against him as an “abuse of process”, and that his defence team had insufficient time to prepare his case.

Glitter found fame in the 1970s as part of the glam rock scene.

COMPLAINT: Gary Glitter – real name Paul Gadd – argued he did not have a fair trial