Gary Glitter Ordered to Pay £508,000 in Damages to Abuse Victim
Convicted sex offender Gary Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, has been ordered to pay at least £508,000 to a victim he abused when she was 12 years old. A High Court judge ruled that Gadd subjected the claimant to “sexual abuse of the most serious kind.”
The woman brought her claim after Gadd was convicted in 2015 of abusing her and two other young people between 1975 and 1980. Gadd, 80, was sentenced to 16 years in prison and released in February last year after serving half his sentence. He was returned to prison six weeks later for breaching his licence conditions by allegedly viewing downloaded images of children.
In a 13-page ruling released on Tuesday, High Court judge Mrs. Justice Tipples awarded the victim £508,800, with a further decision pending on adding interest to that sum. Gadd may also have to cover the victim’s legal costs.
“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,” Mrs. Justice Tipples said.
The damages awarded include £381,000 for lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment. The court heard that as a result of the abuse, the woman has been unable to work for decades. Her barrister, Jonathan Metzer, stated that her experiences had a “dramatic and terrible impact” on her education, work, and personal relationships.
Mrs. Justice Tipples noted that Gadd had failed to acknowledge the compensation claim, leading to a default judgment, and did not respond to an offer to speak to the court via a prison video link regarding the payment amount.
The judge detailed that the abuse began after Gadd had plied the victim and her mother with champagne backstage at a concert and then separated the 12-year-old. The assaults led to severe mental and emotional trauma, causing the victim to drop out of school at age 13, suffer nightmares, panic attacks, depression, and even change her identity to escape the memory of Gadd.
“She has great difficulty sleeping, suffers from nightmares, intrusive flashbacks, and memories, together with panic attacks and depression,” said the judge. “The claimant has no self-confidence and, at times, she has felt suicidal and has taken overdoses. She is plagued by thoughts of shame and self-blame, which, despite understanding the nature of the abuse, she finds she cannot shake off.”
Mrs. Justice Tipples awarded nearly £8,000 for complex psychological therapy and treatment and emphasized that the abuse had caused the claimant to be unable to secure meaningful employment, severely affecting her education and causing lifelong psychiatric injury.