Gary Glitter released from British prison after serving half his sentence for sexually abusing young girls | CBC News

Former pop star Gary Glitter was released from prison in England on Friday after serving half of a 16-year prison sentence for sexually abusing three young girls in the 1970s.

The 79-year-old singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was freed from a prison in Dorset, in southwest England. It is common for offenders in the U.K. to be freed halfway through their sentences and then be placed on probation.

“Sex offenders like Paul Gadd are closely monitored by the police and Probation Service and face some of the strictest licence conditions, including being fitted with a GPS tag,” the Ministry of Justice said in a statement. “If the offender breaches these conditions at any point, they can go back behind bars.”

The singer was found guilty of one count of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13.

Glitter was arrested in October 2012 under Operation Yewtree, the national investigation launched in the wake of the child abuse scandal surrounding the late BBC entertainer Jimmy Savile.

Previously convicted, deported from Vietnam

Glitter is best known for the hit Rock & Roll (Part 2), released in 1972, but he fell into disgrace after repeated disturbing behaviour.

Glitter was convicted in Britain in 1999 of possessing child pornography, and served half of a four-month jail term. An album of material he released two years was sold mainly through his website, as British shops refused to stock the release.

Glitter then resided for years in Asia, and was convicted of obscene acts with children in March 2006 in Vietnam. He served nearly all of a sentence of three years in prison for incidents involved two Vietnamese girls, aged 10 and 11, from the southern coastal city of Vung Tau.

Vietnam deported him to Britain upon his release.