Former British glam-rock star Gary Glitter ordered to pay $650,000 to sexual harassment victim

On Tuesday, former British pop singer Gary Glitter was ordered to pay more than 500,000 pounds ($637,000) to a woman he sexually abused as a child.

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

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

Paul Francis Gadd, also known as Gary Glitter, in the UK. Photo: Reuters

One of the three victims, who claimed she was 12 years old when Gadd raped and sexually assaulted her, took the singer to London’s High Court for damages caused by the abuse.

Judge Amanda Tipples awarded the woman 508,800 pounds ($647,730) in damages on Tuesday after a March hearing at which Gadd was not present or represented by lawyers.

Compensation awarded to the woman, who is now 60 and cannot be described as a victim of sexual abuse, included £381,000 for loss of earnings.

Gadd could not be reached for comment. Earlier this year, he lost his bid for parole from prison.

Gadd was first imprisoned in 1999 for possessing child pornography and later moved to Cambodia, but was deported in 2002 on suspicion of sex crimes.

In 2006, a Vietnamese court sentenced him to four years in prison for committing obscene acts with two girls, aged 10 and 11. After his release he returned to the UK.