ITV documentary investigates the crimes of Gary Glitter

Glitter: The Popstar Paedophile…

In the 1970s he was the chart-topper with hits such as I Love You Love Me Love, hosted Top of the Pops, had a BBC Arena documentary looking at his life and a Channel 4 special celebrating his birthday. But what seemed to be a harmless glam-rock entertainer hid a dark secret – he is a predatory child abuser.

This week a feature-length documentary for ITV1 and STV sees a detailed up-to-date telling of the dark double life of Gary Glitter – real name Paul Gadd – who was able to evade justice for decades meaning he was free to travel abroad and continue offending.

Documenting his crimes committed both in the UK and across the globe, this new programme weaves historical victim testimony, archive footage and interviews with those who met Glitter on the showbiz circuit, as well as lawyers involved in both the prosecution and defence of Glitter during the different trials across the decades.

The programme looks into how Glitter used his charismatic onstage persona to cover up his predatory offstage behaviour, meaning he was only brought to justice decades after lighting up the charts with a slew of catchy hits.

All that glitters isn’t gold: The public image of an entertainer hid a dark sexual depravity

Featuring contributors who have never spoken in a documentary about Glitter before – including his defence lawyer in Vietnam, the former Minister who fought to have him deported from Cambodia, and a lawyer representing one of his victims, this programme asks why those who suffered at the hands of Glitter in the UK were largely ignored when they first came forward.

In 1997, Glitter was finally arrested when graphic child pornography was found on his computer after he brought it into a Bristol PC World for repair. Glitter was later charged with sexual assault of children. However, Glitter was not convicted of the sexual abuse charges relating to children in his 1999 trial. He was only found guilty of the possession of child pornography. After a brief jail term of just two months, Glitter would later flee the UK to Southeast Asia.

Glitter’s fame saw him in demand, Left: Glitter in a promo for British Rail’s ‘Young Person’s Railcard’, Middle: A Bell Records Photocard and Right: Channel 4 celebrate Glitter’s birthday with a special. It wasn’t until Glitter himself exposed his perverse private life when he took his computer to PC World and underage photos were discovered.

Glitter was subsequently arrested in Vietnam and, in 2006, he was convicted of committing sexual assaults on two Vietnamese children. Had Glitter been convicted of the previous sexual assault charges in the UK in his 1999 trial, likely, he would not have been free to travel to Southeast Asia to abuse children there.

Returning to the UK after serving nearly three years in a Vietnamese jail, Glitter would find a different climate after the alleged abuse inflicted by BBC stalwart Jimmy Savile which had been reported after he died in 2011. With attitudes towards historical sexual abuse changing Glitter became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree in 2012. He was charged with the historical sexual abuse of three children, and in 2015, he was convicted of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one of having sex with a girl under the age of 13.

In 2023, just weeks after he was released from prison after serving half of a 16-year sentence for those crimes, Glitter was returned to prison for violating the conditions of his licence.

Glitter: The Popstar Paedophile, ITV1 and STV, Tuesday, April 23rd at 9 pm