Gary Glitter has been ordered to pay over £500,000 in damages to a victim he was convicted of sexually abusing.
The disgraced glam-rocker (real name Paul Gadd) had the lawsuit filed against him in March this year by one of the three victims he was convicted of assaulting in the landmark 2015 case. The incidents originally took place between 1975 and 1980. Gadd denied all the charges, but was acquitted of three other counts.
Now, in the current lawsuit, London’s High Court has ordered Gadd to pay over £500,000 to the claimant. He may also have to pay her legal fees, though that is currently undecided. Gadd did not respond to the compensation claim or attend the hearing.
In the decision (which you can read in full here), the judge began the assessment of damages by stating: “There is no doubt that the claimant was subject to sexual abuse of the most serious kind by the defendant when she was only 12 years old and that has had a very significant adverse impact on the rest of her life.”
According to the document, Gadd met the claimant and her mother backstage at one of his shows and “plied them with champagne,” eventually isolating the young girl and assaulting her. The judge wrote there were “further sexual assaults”, including an incident taking place at Gadd’s house in London.
The claimant has continued to say that Gadd’s abuse had “severe, profound, and long-lasting” consequences, for which she is seeking damages. The judge also added that the claimant’s young age contributed to these consequences, along with “the association between the abuse and the claimant’s mother and the emotional fall out this created, the wider impact on the claimant’s life over many decades [and] the fact that the case had to go to trial many decades later [with] the defendant pleading not guilty.”
In a statement to The Guardian, the claimant’s lawyer Richard Scorer wrote: “In making this award the court has properly acknowledged the appalling abuse suffered by my client. Whilst no amount of money can make up for horrific sexual abuse, the award at least goes some way to recognising the devastation inflicted on my client throughout her childhood and adult life.
“Gadd’s refusal to engage with the process merely proves his utter lack of remorse, something we will be reminding the Parole Board about if he makes another application for early release. We will be pursuing Gadd for payment and will continue to support our client through this process.”
In other news, Gary Glitter will not be released from prison, a parole board has ruled.