Entertainment

Former UK pop star Gary Glitter ordered to pay sex abuse victim $650,000

Former British pop singer Gary Glitter was on Tuesday ordered to pay a woman he sexually abused as a child more than $637,000 in damages.

The 80-year-old, whose real name is Paul Gadd, shot to fame in the 1970s as a “glam-rock” star before he was later repeatedly convicted and jailed for child sex crimes.

Gadd was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2015 after being found guilty of indecently assaulting three girls in the 1970s.

British pop star Gary Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, arrives at Southwark Crown Court on Feb. 4, 2015 in London, England. GC Images

One of those three victims, who said she was 12 when Gadd raped and sexually assaulted her, sued the singer at London’s High Court for damages caused by the abuse.

Judge Amanda Tipples on Tuesday awarded the woman $647,730 in damages after a hearing in March at which Gadd was not present or represented by lawyers.

The damages awarded to the woman, who is now 60 years old and cannot be named as a victim of sexual abuse, included $485,400 for loss of earnings.

Gadd could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this year, he lost a bid to be released from prison on parole.

The former glam rocker Gary Glitter was sentenced to 16 years in jail for sexually abusing three schoolgirls in a court in London on Feb. 27, 2015. AFP/Getty Images
Gadd was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2015 after being found guilty of indecently assaulting three girls in the 1970s. PA Wire/Press Association Images
Glitter performed live in London in 1972. Getty Images

Gadd was first jailed in 1999 for possession of child pornography and later moved to Cambodia, but was deported in 2002 due to suspected sex offenses.

In 2006, a Vietnamese court convicted him of committing obscene acts with two girls aged 10 and 11 and sentenced him to four years in jail.

On his release, he returned to Britain.