In 2015, Gary Glitter was sentenced to 16 years in prison for a series of sexual offences with minors, but he was let loose onto the streets after serving half of his sentence, which I have already written about in these pages. In a clear demonstration of the power of The New Conservative, the Parole Board recalled him to prison on 13 March, after a month of being released.
Let’s remind ourselves of what this man has done. He was imprisoned for downloading child pornography in 1999, which, thankfully, put an abrupt end to his career; he was found guilty in Cambodia and Vietnam of obscene acts with minors and was subsequently deported to the UK where he was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register in 2006. Later, he was convicted of child abuse and a series of sexual offences against three underaged school girls–including rape–in 2015, resulting in his arrest and sentencing.
In my article I stated that ‘Gary Glitter was free to move on; probably to his next victim’ and, regrettably, it looks like I was right. Footage was captured of Glitter using a phone and asking questions about how to access the dark web. The Independent says: ‘The dark web is hailed by privacy advocates and human rights activists for its ability to protect political dissidents and provide a platform for people looking to evade censorship and online surveillance’. It seems the authorities did not consider it likely that Gazza was up to a bit of human rights activism on the sly. Instead, they took the view that he had breached his licence conditions. Glitter has never shown remorse, apologised or admitted to what he has done, so releasing this man onto the street was an accident waiting to happen.
A Probation Service spokesperson said: ‘protecting the public is our number one priority and that is why we set tough licence conditions, and when offenders breach them, we do not hesitate to return them to custody.’ Also, they have introduced tougher sentences and ended the automatic halfway release for serious crimes. It is hard to understand (beyond cost-cutting and freeing up much-needed jail space) why releasing them halfway through a sentence was ever a thing in the first place. Offenders have given young children a life sentence having to live with the consequences of their actions, while they have the chance to be back on the streets. Rehabilitation rates for sex offenders are not encouraging. In 2021, a quarter of convicted sex offenders who were released from custody in England and Wales went on to reoffend. This presumably excludes the ones who have not been caught. I suppose the Parole Board has access to these figures.
Glitter should not have been released; he is a threat to young girls. Luckily, the law has changed, and he will now have to serve a full sentence before he can be released again. I really hope this is the end of the case and they keep him in prison, where he belongs.
Jack Watson is a Year 9 student at Sirius North Academy, Kingston upon Hull. He blogs about being a Hull City fan at Ten Foot Tigers, which you can subscribe to here.
