‘Depraved’ former BBC Radio 1 DJ dies in prison while serving sentence for abusing boys as young as eight

Convicted pedophile and former BBC Radio 1 presenter Chris Denning died of diabetes in prison aged 81, after being convicted for a string of offences against 35 young boys, some as young as eight

Chris Denning was convicted to 13 years in prison for over 40 offences against 24 boys aged between nine and sixteen in 2014. He was sentenced to another 13 years in 2016 for admitting to abusing another 11 boys, some as young as eight. (PA)

Former BBC Radio 1 presenter and convicted pedophile Chris Denning, 81, died in prison of diabetes, according to a new prison watchdog report.

Denning was convicted of a string of offences against young boys and was serving two 13 year sentences at HMP Bedford where he died behind bars.

Some of his victims were as young as eight and Judge Alistair McCreath who sentenced Denning, called him “utterly depraved”.

Denning was prosecuted for multiple sex offences across Europe as well as the UK (Europics)

Denning had been suffering from Parkinson’s Diseas, diabetes, a heart abnormality, glaucoma, high blood pressure and bed sores. He had decided in January last year that he did not wish to be resuscitated if his heart or breathing stopped. He later died in Bedford Hospital on June 24 2022 from a bone infection caused by diabetes.

Southwark Court where he was sentenced, heard how Denning had taken some victims to Top of the Pops recordings and introduced them to Jimmy Savile, even abusing one boy at Savile’s home.

Denning had multiple convictions for pedophilia and sex offences and was a convicted sex offender in Europe before he found fame in the UK. He was prosecuted in 1959 in Germany for circulating pornographic images and was accused of running a pedophile ring in Prague in the 1990s where he had photographed himself abusing boys he picked up from amusement arcades and swimming pools and was sentenced to 15 years after delivering a 44 hour closing speech and being found guilty.

Denning (riight) was one of the founding DJs on BBC Radio 1 and was the first voice ever to speak on BBC2 before being exposed for being a sex offender (Starstock/Photoshot)

In 2001, the Czech government sought to question Denning in relation to sex crimes against minors at a disco for teenagers. He then went on the run before being tracked down by The Sun in 2005 and being convicted the following year at Kingston Crown Court where he admitted five charges of abusing boys under 16.

Jimmy Saville revelations led to Operation Yewtree which led to Denning’s final two convictions. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for 40 offences against 24 boys between the age of nine and sixteen. In 2016, he admitted to abusing another eleven boys, some as young as eight, and was sentenced to another 13 years.

A clinical reviewer for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found that, “when clinical readings first showed that Mr Denning needed emergency care, he was not transferred to hospital for treatment”.

The care he received in custody was worse than he could have expected to receive as a free man, the reviewer said.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, which investigates deaths in custody, published a report saying it found “issues of concern in Mr Denning’s end-of-life care”.