British police arrested 1970s glam rocker Gary Glitter yesterday as they probe the mountain of sexual abuse allegations against the late TV star Jimmy Savile that have plunged the BBC into crisis.
Glitter is the first person arrested in an investigation which has snowballed since claims that Savile molested underage girls were aired in a TV documentary earlier this month.
Glitter, 68, the king of the glam rock era with a string of stomping hits, has served a jail term in Britain for downloading child pornography and in Vietnam for child sex offences.
Wearing a hat, dark glasses and a winter coat, Glitter was seen being escorted from his central London home into a waiting vehicle early yesterday.
“Officers working on Operation Yewtree have today arrested a man in his 60s in connection with the investigation,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said.
“The man, from London, was arrested at approximately 7.15am on suspicion of sexual offences, and has been taken into custody at a London police station. The individual falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed ‘Savile and others’.”
The operation has identified around 300 possible victims of Savile over a 40-year period, which would make the eccentric BBC presenter one of the worst offenders in British history. The claims against Savile have plunged the BBC into crisis and destroyed the reputation of a man who, with his garish tracksuits and ever-present cigar, was one of the most famous faces on British TV for decades.
Savile, who died on October 29 last year aged 84, also single-handedly raised tens of millions of pounds for charity.
The claims against him gave dozens of others the courage to come forward to police with allegations about Savile, his time on top BBC programmes of the 1960s to 1980s and others involved with him who are still alive.
Public relations guru Max Clifford claimed many celebrities from the period have contacted him as they are “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”.