Gary Glitter Reportedly Freed From Prison After Serving Half 16-Year Sexual Abuse Sentence

Former pop star Gary Glitter has been released from a U.K. prison after serving half his sentence for sexual abuse, according to reports.

Glitter, who is 79, was jailed in 2015 for 16 years after being convicted of sexually abusing three under-age girls. The victims were 13, 12 and 10.

However, he has now been released from the Dorset jail in which he was serving his sentence, according to the Press Association. The news agency reported he had left the low security prison on Friday morning but will still be subject to “licence conditions,” meaning he will serve the rest of his sentence in the community.

Glitter was originally arrested as part of a large-scale police investigation codenamed Operation Yewtree, which was launched by the Metropolitan Police to look into historic sex crimes perpetrated by celebrities following the Jimmy Savile scandal. Savile was a long-feted radio DJ and TV presenter who was exposed as a prolific sexual predator after his death in 2011.

Popular on Variety

Glitter rose to fame as a glam rock singer in the 1970s and ’80s with hits such as “Do You Wanna Touch Me” and “I Love You Love Me Love.” His career effectively ended in 1999 after he was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to possessing 4,000 images of child sexual abuse. The sentence was handed down just hours after he was found not guilty of sexually assaulting an underage girl in a separate trial.

In 2006 he was convicted of sexually abusing two underage girls in Vietnam and sentenced for three years, of which he served two and a half years.

Must Read

Film
COVER | Sebastian Stan Tells All: Becoming Donald Trump and Starring in 2024’s Most Controversial Movie
By Andrew Wallenstein 2 weeks

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXN%2FjqasrKGTZLStu8Gao2ifkafGbrPLoqutnaJivbO10qilZquVo8GmusKeZJ%2BqlZqxbn2RbGxuaWFqhHF7

Larita Shotwell

Update: 2024-09-13

NovaVib