Gary Glitter held in Savile investigation
Former pop star long linked to child sex accusations is the first man arrested in the scandal over alleged abuses by late BBC presenter
One-time British pop star Gary Glitter was arrested yesterday as part of an investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, the corporation said.
It was the first arrest to be reported in a scandal that has already damaged the reputation of the publicly funded BBC and the legacy of Savile, a former DJ who was one of the broadcaster's top show hosts and a dedicated charity fundraiser.
The head of the BBC's governing body said yesterday that the broadcaster's reputation was on the line, and promised to get to the bottom of the scandal.
A police statement said a man in his 60s had been picked up on suspicion of sexual offences in the investigation into "Savile and others". The statement did not name the man and a spokesman declined further comment.
The BBC and Sky News identified the man picked up from his London home as Glitter, 68, who was popular as a glam-rock singer in the 1970s. Footage on both broadcasters showed Glitter, who was not handcuffed, leaving an apartment in central London and being driven away.
Glitter, born Paul Gadd, shot to fame in the 1970s with the hit . He has long been dogged by child-sex accusations.
Allegations that Savile sexually abused young girls for decades first emerged in an exposé on the British TV channel ITV. Since then, police say some 300 victims had come forward.
The victims' allegations include claims from one woman that she had seen Glitter having sex with an under-age girl in Savile's BBC dressing room while Savile abused another girl.
The scandal has raised troubling questions about the BBC's management and its workplace culture in the past. Revelations that an investigation by , the BBC's flagship TV news show, was shelved last December led to claims bosses at the broadcaster knew about the allegations but kept quiet.
"Can it really be the case that no one knew what he was doing? Did some turn a blind eye to criminality?" asked Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust that oversees the broadcaster, writing in .
said the office of former BBC director Mark Thompson was alerted about the allegations twice, in May and September. Thompson is poised to take over as chief executive of , and quoted his spokesman as saying Thompson had not been told about the allegations on either occasion.
The BBC has announced two investigations as a result of the scandal, and Patten promised full co-operation.
Public relations guru Max Clifford claimed dozens of celebrities from the 1960s and 1970s had contacted him in recent days because they were frightened of being implicated in the widening scandal. He said the stars were worried because at their peak they had lived a hedonistic lifestyle where young girls threw themselves at them but they "never asked for anybody's birth certificate".
Glitter was convicted in Vietnam in March 2006 of "obscene acts" with two girls aged 11 and 12, and released from jail in August 2008. Having been turned away from Hong Kong and Thailand, he returned to Britain, where he was ordered to sign the sex- offenders register, which requires him to alert police to his whereabouts.
