Gary Glitter is being sued by one of his victims over the psychiatric damage caused by his abuse.
The claim has been brought against the disgraced pop singer by one of his victims. He was convicted of abusing her and two other young victims in 2015, with the incidents taking place between 1975 and 1980.
In the lawsuit, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, is seeking compensation for the psychiatric damage she suffered at his hands when she was just 12 years old – with her lawyer describing it as “the worst kind” of abuse.
“What we have is severe and profound consequences as a result of abuse that I think is fair to say is of the worst kind,” her lawyer, Jonathan Metzer, told the court during a hearing in London yesterday (March 5) according to The Guardian. “In summary, it has had profound and long-lasting consequences for my client’s life ever since.”
Glitter – whose real name is Paul Gadd – did not attend the London hearing and was not represented by a lawyer. The court was also told that he had not so far engaged with the civil case. The plaintiff has previously secured a “default judgment” in her claim – a ruling in her favour over Gadd’s liability.
Her lawyer, Jonathan Metzer joined the hearing virtually, and told Mrs Justice Tipples – the judge overseeing the case – that his client’s claim arose out of “serious sexual abuse and assault committed on her by the defendant”.
He also stated that she had received “severe psychiatric diagnoses” including complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and presented a clinical psychologist’s report, detailing ways in which Glitter’s abuse had affected her mental health, relationships, education and employment.
It is now up to the judge to decide what level of compensation the woman could receive, and the hearing was adjourned until March 27 to ensure Gadd received case documents and has the opportunity to respond.
The lawsuit comes just weeks after a parole board ruled that the 79-year-old would not be released from prison, after being released halfway through his 16-year sentence and recalled back to jail less than six weeks later for breaching his licence conditions.
Glitter had several chart hits in the ‘70s but later fell from grace around 20 years later, when he was arrested and imprisoned for possessing thousands of images of child abuse. From there, he was later expelled from Cambodia in 2002 following reports of sex crime allegations, and was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam in 2006. The latter saw him spend two and a half years in jail.
Further allegations against the musician came to light when he was the first person named and arrested under Operation Yewtree – an investigation by the Metropolitan Police following the Jimmy Savile scandal.
As aforementioned, he was imprisoned in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980 – one of which has filed the compensation claim.
Two of the victims were aged 12 and 13 at the time, and the attacks took place when Glitter invited them backstage to his dressing room, isolating them from their parents. The third incident took place in 1975, when the singer crept into the bed of a girl who was aged under 10 at the time, and attempted to rape her.
“Releasing him would have been utterly wrong and we are glad the parole board has done the right thing,” said Richard Scorer, a lawyer who represents one of Glitter’s victims, when the decision to deny him parole was made last month.
“We only hope that Glitter will now serve this full sentence – it is completely unfair that our client has to endure this Glitter parole circus over and over again.”
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