Gary Glitter
County: Somerset
Conviction Date: 01/11/1999
Offence Details
1997 arrest and 1999 conviction
In November 1997, Glitter was arrested after a technician discovered pornographic images of children on the hard drive of a laptop that he had taken to a computer retailer in Bristol to be repaired. Further images were discovered by police during searches of his homes in London and Wedmore. He was castigated in the media over the allegations; additionally, his appearance in the Spice Girls' musical comedy film Spice World was cut, though a truncated edit of the scene, featuring a cover of "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)", was retained.
At Bristol Crown Court on 12 November 1999, Mr Justice Butterfield sentenced Glitter to four months in prison and placed him on the sex offender register in the UK after he admitted downloading more than 4,000 items of child pornography. He was acquitted of a charge of having sex with a 14-year-old girl with whom he had a relationship in the late 1970s. It was later revealed that the complainant sold her story to the News of the World and stood to earn more money from the newspaper should Glitter be convicted.