Gary Glitter: career pressure led me to download child sex abuse images

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/28/gary-glitter-career-pressure-child-sex-abuse-images

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Gary Glitter wept in the dock as he blamed a collapsing career, financial troubles and being in a “bad place” for his decision to download images of men sexually abusing young children on to his computer.

Sobbing uncontrollably in the witness box, the singer, 70, told jurors that his conviction for possessing 4,000 images of child abuse “changed my life forever”.

The star, whose real name is Paul Gadd, is on trial accused of sexually abusing three young girls, including two teenage fans, in the 1970s and 1980s. The accusations include attempting to rape an eight-year-old and plying a 12-year-old with champagne in order to have sex with her.

He denies all charges against him.

Asked about his conviction for possessing child abuse images in the 1990s, he issued a tearful apology to his fans, saying: “I lost my own dignity, and I am so sorry. I am very sorry.

“I am sorry today and every day of my life ever since. I am sorry to my fans.”

In cross-examination, prosecutor John Price QC asked the singer: “Why were you looking at pictures of men having sex with young children?”

Immediately breaking into sobs and reaching for a tissue, Gadd replied: “I was in a very bad place in my life at that time and I had a lot of very serious decisions to make about my future.”

He added that he had invested £200,000 in his own career, and that his record company and fans were demanding a lot from him.

Gadd said: “By the time I had taken my computer to PC World, I then had other allegations come in, so the lawyers’ fees and the lawyers’ bills were tremendous. And I also missed my girlfriend, who lived in Cuba. I couldn’t get her out of Cuba.”

Breaking down again, the singer continued: “I still can’t get her out of Cuba.”

Holding his head in his hands and taking off his glasses to wipe away tears, Gadd addressed judge Alistair McCreath, saying: “Forgive me, my lord, it has been devastating for me.

“I was drinking heavily, I was doing drugs, and the other thing of course is that I had to find this money to pay for the legal costs and studio, and I was asked by my management to seriously do the one thing which was absolutely terrible – which was to sell my songs. To sell my songs to Universal Pictures, and I regret it.

“I was just in a bad place. I went to prison, I came out. I was remorseful and I am remorseful. I am so sorry. It changed my life forever. I lost my honour, I lost my family.”

He told the court he had accepted responsibility for the images and had been to prison. Gadd, who said he had been abused as a child, added that he now recognised the damage such images cause to children.

Price told him: “You will accept that people have difficulties in their careers. You will accept that they do not reach for their laptop and look for pictures of men having sex with young children.”

Gadd was arrested in November 1997 when he went to pick up a Toshiba laptop he had put in for servicing at Bristol PC World after engineers found child abuse images, jurors heard.

The star subsequently admitted responsibility for a “large number” of images – depicting a full range of sexual activity taking place between men and very young children – being on his computer. He pleaded guilty to 54 charges of having the abusive images in 1999.