Gary Glitter Ordered to Pay Over $600,000 to Child Sexual Abuse Victim

Disgraced glam rocker and convicted child sex offender Gary Glitter was ordered to pay over $600,000 (at least £508,800) in damages to a victim he abused when she was 12.

A judge on London’s High Court issued the ruling on damages Tuesday, June 11; it’s possible the sum will be increased after the judge considers interest and whether Glitter (real name Paul Gadd) will have to cover to the claimant’s legal fees. The anonymous claimant previously won a default judgment in her case against Gadd, who neither responded to the compensation claim nor attended the hearing. 

“There is no doubt that the claimant was subject to sexual abuse of the most serious kind by the defendant when she was only 12 years old and that has had a very significant adverse impact on the rest of her life,” the decision read. 

The woman who brought the compensation claim against the musician was one of three young girls that Gadd was convicted of sexually abusing between 1975 and 1980. In that case, which ended in 2015, Gadd was found guilty of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault, and one count of having sex with a girl under 13.

According to the judge’s decision in the compensation case, Gadd met the claimant and her mother backstage at one of his shows, “plied them with champagne,” eventually got the young girl alone, and assaulted her. On a different occasion, the judge wrote Gadd raped the defendant at his house in London. The decision noted that there were “further sexual assaults” as well. 

As the judge wrote in her decision, the claimant maintained that Gadd’s abuse had “severe, profound, and long-lasting” consequences. The judge continued: “This is particularly so given the claimant’s age at the time of the abuse; the association between the abuse and the claimant’s mother and the emotional fall out this created; the severe, on-going long lasting psychiatric injuries suffered by the claimant as a result of the abuse; the wider impact on the claimant’s life over many decades, including on her education, career prospects and subsequent relationships (including intimate relationships); and the fact that the case had to go to trial many decades later and the defendant pleaded not guilty and was convicted.”

Per The Guardian, a lawyer for the claimant, Richard Scorer, said the damages cannot ”make up for the horrific sexual abuse” his client suffered but “at least goes some way to recognizing the devastation inflicted on my client throughout her childhood and adult life.” 

He continued: “Gadd’s refusal to engage with the process merely proves his utter lack of remorse, something we will be reminding the Parole Board about if he makes another application for early release. We will be pursuing Gadd for payment and will continue to support our client through this process.” 

Following his 2015 conviction, Gadd was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Gadd was briefly released on probation last year, but just over a month later, he was sent back to prison for violating the terms of probation. He’d reportedly been caught trying to access the dark web and view downloaded images of children.

Another parole hearing for Gadd was held in January, but the board eventually decided he should not be released. There was concern about his lack of empathy for the victims and his decision not to partake in any programs related to his conviction. Gadd has reportedly continued to deny being sexually interested in children.