Pop paedophile Gary Glitter could lose his multi-million pound fortune after being made bankrupt for dodging a compensation payout.
The disgraced rocker, 80, has refused to pay £508,000 in damages awarded by the High Court last year to a woman he raped when she was 12. Her lawyers at Slater and Gordon have now successfully launched an enforcement action making him bankrupt last month.
The case appeared under Glitter’s real name of Paul Francis Gadd, at the Torquay and Newton Abbot County Court. A trustee can now take over his assets, including his £2million London penthouse, and use them to repay the victim.
Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015 for the abuse of the victim and two other girls between 1975 and 1980. A judge at the High Court last year ruled the woman was entitled to compensation to cover the time she has been unable to work and the suffering he caused her.
It is understood that at least two more victims have since come forward to sue Glitter. A source told the Daily Mirror last year: “More victims have come forward.” Documents filed to Companies House show a firm Glitter founded, now run by associates, has £137,873 in assets. It paid off the mortgage on Glitter’s flat in Baker Street, Central London.
On top of that are the royalties he is understood to still be raking in while in jail. A source said: “Though some were paused some years ago it may not be the case with all of them.”
Glitter sold 18million records by 1975, and despite no longer owning the master rights, he is thought to still get half the royalties as songwriter. It would mean he is earning on every “public performance,” when his tunes are played in bars, on radio, at a sports event or on TV.
By 2013, he had reportedly earned £1m from Oasis track Hello which uses a sample of his lyrics. The rocker served two-and-a-half years in jail in Vietnam from 2006 for sexually abusing two girls, 10 and 11. He was convicted of two indecent assaults and a charge of sex with an under 18 in relation to the woman who sued him, the court heard.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater & Gordon who acts for the woman, said last year: “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 throughout her childhood and adult life.
“Gadd’s refusal to engage with the process 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.”
Jonathan Metzer, who represented the woman, previously told the court Glitter’s abuse had a “dramatic and terrible impact” on her education, work and personal relationships. Glitter was convicted of two charges of indecent assault and one of sex with a girl aged under 18 in relation to the claimant, the court heard.
He was released in 2023 but recalled for breaching his licensing conditions and he remains in jail.
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