Gary Glitter victim seeking around half-a-million pounds in damages, court told

By Jess Glass, Reporter27th March 2024News EnglandChild Abuse, Courts / Justice, News England, Non-Recent / Historic Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Victim Support

One of Gary Glitter’s victims is seeking around half-a-million pounds from the disgraced musician in damages, the High Court has heard.

The woman is suing Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, following his 2015 conviction for abusing her and two other young people between 1975 and 1980.

She has previously secured a “default judgment” in her claim – a ruling in her favour over Glitter’s liability, with a judge now due to make a ruling on the level of damages the woman can receive.

At a hearing on Wednesday, the court heard the woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – has been unable to work for several decades as a result of the abuse.

The court heard that part of her damages bid includes a claim for £20,000 per year for 40 years, covering the time she has been unable to work, although any award is likely to be reduced.

Jonathan Metzer, for the woman, said Glitter’s abuse had a “dramatic and terrible impact” on her education, work and personal relationships.

He told the High Court in London: “One can only begin to imagine the profound pain felt by someone who has experienced such shocking abuse… then suffered from feelings of shame and worthlessness.”

The barrister said his client was “plagued by thoughts of self-blame”, adding that her mother was a fan of Glitter’s music.

Mr Metzer said: “You may have concluded that his status as a rock star created a substantial imbalance of power that he exploited.

“There was an abuse of trust… her mother was beguiled by the defendant.”

Glitter (pictured in 2015) did not attend Wednesday’s hearing, nor was he represented by a lawyer, with the court told he had not so far engaged with the civil case.

Mrs Justice Tipples said she would give her decision in early May.

She said: “In terms of the maths, the claim is made for 40 years… in terms of reflecting time out of the labour market.”

The judge added: “The principle is not the issue, the issue is assessing it.”

“This is a large amount of money that you are asking for,” Mrs Justice Tipples said.

Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, who represents Glitter’s victim, said after the hearing: “Yet again Gadd showed contempt to his victims today by failing to turn up at court and answer for the appalling harm he caused to our client.

“The evidence of that harm today speaks for itself and we hope the judge will make an award to reflect this.

“Gadd remains a man completely with any human decency or remorse. Our client continues to hope that he will serve his full sentence so she will at least get the justice she was promised at the criminal trial.”

Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls. His sentence expires in February 2031.

He was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February last year after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.

Glitter was put back behind bars less than six weeks after walking free when police monitoring showed he had breached his licence conditions by reportedly trying to access the dark web and viewing downloaded images of children.

The court heard Glitter is now back at HMP The Verne, after being housed at HMP Risley during his recent failed parole bid.

The offences for which he was jailed in 2015 came to light as part of Operation Yewtree, the Metropolitan Police investigation launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.