Ex-rocker Gary Glitter pleads not guilty to sex offences in 70s, 80s

British former glam rock star Gary Glitter on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual offences against a young girl dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.

The 82-year-old, whose real name is Paul Gadd, appeared at London’s Southwark Crown Court via video link from a prison in Devon in southwest England, where he is an inmate following previous sex convictions.

He denied eight charges of sexual offences, including two charges of sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13.

According to the prosecution, the alleged offences took place between 1978 and 1981 after Gadd gave the girl chocolate and invited her to his London home.

The trial is set to begin next November.

Peter Dazeley, London, 1987. Picture: Gallo/Getty Images

The Crown Prosecution Service, which brings public prosecutions in England and Wales, said in July when Gadd was charged that the allegations were made by a woman last year and investigated by London’s Metropolitan Police.

The alleged offences occurred when the complainant was aged between eight and 11.

Glitter shot to fame in the 1970s and had over 20 hit singles, including *“I’m the Leader of the Gang (I Am)”, *“I Love You Love Me Love” and “Come On, Come In, Get On“.

He was first jailed in Britain in 1999 when he admitted possessing 4 000 images of child pornography.

He was deported from Cambodia in 2002 amid child sexual abuse allegations and convicted in Vietnam in 2006 of sexually abusing two girls, for which he served nearly three years in jail there.

Following a further conviction in Britain, he was released from prison in 2023 but recalled to jail weeks later after breaching his release conditions.