Gary Glitter was today ordered to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a victim who sued him in the High Court.
The woman is taking legal action against Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, following his 2015 conviction for abusing her and two other young people between 1975 and 1980.
She previously secured a ‘default judgment’ in her claim – a ruling in her favour over Glitter’s liability – and today Mrs Justice Tipples said the woman was entitled to damages of £508,800.
Mrs Justice Tipples said the woman brought the legal action after being repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by Glitter, as well as being ‘humiliated and coercively controlled’ by the singer.
She added in a 13-page ruling: ‘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 very significant adverse impact on the rest of her life.’
The judge said the six-figure-sum includes £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment.
A hearing is expected today to consider any interest on the damages and legal costs. Given Glitter’s offences date back decades, this could push the amount he has to pay into the millions.
Paedophile pop star Gary Glitter was today ordered by a High Court judge to pay £508,800 in damages to one of the women he abused
![Glitter's fall from grace began in the late 1990s when he was convicted for possessing thousands of child abuse images and was jailed for four months in 1999. He's seen in 1974](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/11/10/81427999-13517067-Glitter_s_fall_from_grace_began_in_the_late_1990s_when_he_was_co-a-18_1718098325891.jpg)
Glitter’s fall from grace began in the late 1990s when he was convicted for possessing thousands of child abuse images and was jailed for four months in 1999. He’s seen in 1974
Mrs Justice Tipples said the victim had suffered ‘psychological injury and losses’ due to Glitter’s abuse.
The judge said: ‘The claimant said that she felt totally ashamed and she would scrub herself in the bath daily and this included, on occasion, using a pumice stone to ‘scrub her face off’, and she did not care what she looked like. The claimant just did not want to look like herself.
‘The claimant did not tell anyone in her family what happened to her as she was worried that she would bring shame on them all and she thought her family would not love her any more if they knew.’
At a hearing in March, the High Court in London heard the woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – has been unable to work for several decades.
Her barrister Jonathan Metzer said Glitter’s abuse had a ‘dramatic and terrible impact’ on her education, work and personal relationships.
Glitter, 80, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls. His sentence expires in February 2031.
He was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February last year after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
The woman first met him at a concert in Birmingham in 1977 when she was 12.
She and her mother were then invited to the pop star’s hotel the following night.
Court documents state: ‘The defendant plied them with champagne and, when he got the claimant on her own and away from her mother, the claimant was sexually assaulted by the defendant.
‘He held her head, pushed her neck back and started to kiss her. She touched his hair at which point, ”he went mad” as no one was allowed to touch his hair. He then stuck his tongue in her mouth and told her to get undressed.’
Glitter then repeatedly raped the girl, who was collected by her mother the next morning, the court documents state. She was later invited back to his house in London and subjected to further rapes and sexual assaults.
A psychologist who accessed the claimant before her legal case said she was suffering from ‘flashbacks and nightmares’ and extreme behaviours, including ‘manic cleaning’. She also struggles to leave her home.
![The 80-year-old is said to be resigned to dying behind bars after his latest parole hearing was rejected](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/11/10/81427995-13517067-Glitter_real_name_Paul_Gadd_has_resigned_that_he_will_likely_die-a-19_1718098341555.jpg)
The 80-year-old is said to be resigned to dying behind bars after his latest parole hearing was rejected
![Glitter pictured in 2007 in Vietnam, where he spent three years in prison for child abuse charges](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/11/10/68657611-13517067-Gary_Glitter_in_2007_in_Vietnam_where_he_spent_three_years_in_pr-a-20_1718098412513.jpg)
Glitter pictured in 2007 in Vietnam, where he spent three years in prison for child abuse charges
Glitter was put back behind bars less than six weeks after walking free when police monitoring showed he had breached his licence conditions by reportedly trying to access the dark web and viewing downloaded images of children.
He is said last month to have accepted he would die in prison after he lost a parole hearing. He told his fellow inmates he fears he will not be released before the end of his sentence in 2031.
A source said: ‘He still blames everyone for his situation, rather than accepting it’s his fault.’
‘Glitter is really down and moaning about his situation,’ they told the Sun.
‘He has said ‘I’m going to die in jail now,’ and is resigned to it. He would be almost 87 by the time his sentence ends and knows the effect being inside can have on your health.’
While the sex offender could apply for parole once again those close to the situation added that it was ‘likely to be refused as he hasn’t changed.’
Glitter was at the height of his fame when he preyed on his victims, who thought no-one would believe their claims because of his celebrity status.
He attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after luring them backstage to his dressing room and isolating them from their mothers.
His third victim was less than 10 years old when he crept into her bed and tried to rape her in 1975.
![Glitter was sent back to prison last year just a month after being spotted using a mobile phone at his bail hostel to allegedly access the dark web](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/11/10/68657609-13517067-Paedophile_Glitter_was_sent_back_to_prison_last_year_just_a_mont-a-21_1718098437031.jpg)
Glitter was sent back to prison last year just a month after being spotted using a mobile phone at his bail hostel to allegedly access the dark web
The allegations against Glitter only came to light nearly 40 years later when the star became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree – an investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
Glitter’s fall from grace began in the late 1990s when he was convicted for possessing thousands of child abuse images and was jailed for four months in 1999.
In 2002, he was expelled from Cambodia amid reports of sex crime allegations, and in March 2006 he was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged ten and 11, in Vietnam and spent two and a half years in jail.
Ahead of his latest parole hearing – that was refused two weeks ago – Glitter was accused of having a ‘total lack of remorse’ towards his victims.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater & Gordon who acts for the woman in this case, said after the judgment: ‘In making this award, the court has properly acknowledged the appalling abuse suffered by my client.
‘Whilst no amount of money can make up for horrific sexual abuse, the award at least goes some way to recognising the devastation inflicted on my client throughout her childhood and adult life.
‘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.’
![HMP The Verne in Portland, Dorset, where Glitter is serving his prison sentence](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/11/10/80316233-13517067-HMP_The_Verne_in_Portland_Dorset_where_Glitter_is_serving_his_pr-a-22_1718098444746.jpg)
HMP The Verne in Portland, Dorset, where Glitter is serving his prison sentence