Glitter admits child porn charges

Pop star Gary Glitter pleaded guilty today to 54 child pornography charges.

Pop star Gary Glitter pleaded guilty today to 54 child pornography charges.

The singer admitted at Bristol Crown Court the offences of making indecent photographs of children under the age of 16 between January 3, 1997 and November 18, 1997.

Glitter replied "guilty" in a strong, clear voice after the first count was put to him by the court clerk.

As each subsequent charge was put to him, the 55-year-old singer's voice became less clear.

At one point he appeared to be holding back tears and on several occasions he reached for a tissue to wipe his nose.

As the last few charges were read, he only nodded to indicate guilt and stood with bowed head.

The child pornography charges came after a member of staff spotted the material when Glitter, 55, took his computer for repair at PC World in Bristol.

The star was arrested by police at the store and later charged with the porn offences.

He was also charged with eight counts of sexually assaulting a besotted, underage teenage fan, who sold her story to the News of the World after reading about Glitter's arrest on the porn charges.

But he was cleared of those offences after a four day trial when the jury of eight men and four women delivered not guilty verdicts having deliberated for over seven hours.

Glitter looked on impassively as the foreman of the jury read out the not guilty verdicts for each of the eight counts earlier today.

Then he smiled as the final verdict was greeted by cheers in the public gallery.

The glam rock singer turned to the jury, put his hands together and bowed after hearing the verdicts, for which he had waited for seven hours and 32 minutes.

He then embraced his solicitor Henri Brandman and his woman assistant, but was told he would have to stay to have the child porn offences dealt with.

Glitter, who was charged under his real name Paul Francis Gadd, had pleaded not guilty to four counts of indecently assaulting the girl in the early 1980s when she was under 16 years old.

He also denied four charges of serious sexual assault against the same girl. All the offences were alleged to have taken place on dates between March 1, 1980 and June 15, 1982.

The woman sold the story of her relationship with Glitter to the News of the World for £10,000, but stood to gain an extra £25,000 if he had been convicted, the court heard.

Immediately after the verdict, which came at the end of a four day trial, the Press Complaints Commission announced that it is to investigate payments from the News of the World to the woman.

In his summing up, trial judge Mr Justice Butterfield called the reported promise of payment "a highly reprehensible state of affairs".

The fan, who is now a mother of three, went to the News of the World and claimed that at the age of 14, after eight years of adoration, she had met the chart-topping artist when he invited her on stage and she sang a song with him.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed that the friendship, which was encouraged by her parents, developed into a sexual relationship with the singer taking her virginity.

But summing up yesterday the judge told jurors they had to decide whether the girl had made up her account on the promise of £25,000 from the News of the World if Glitter was convicted.

The judge said yesterday: "Here is a witness who first made public her allegations for payment of £10,000 and stands to make a further £25,000 if he is convicted.

"That is a highly reprehensible state of affairs.

"It is not illegal, but it is to be greatly deprecated."

But he added: "Of course, it does not mean that you all in consequence reject the evidence of the girl."

Explaining why she had made the allegation, the woman, now 34, told the jury earlier this week: "I needed to tell them what I knew, that all the stuff he does is not right. He cannot have all that stuff. Pictures of children is not right."

As she gave evidence in the witness box, she broke down in tears and implored Glitter to tell the court what she claimed he had done to her in the early 1980s.

Sobbing, she cried: "Tell them. Tell them, please," as she was helped from the box still staring at the singer.

Around 100 Glitter fans gathered outside the entrance to Bristol Crown Court today to see the glam rock star.