Convicted pedophile Gary Glitter back in prison one month after being released for trying to access 'dark web'

Disgraced 1970s pop star Gary Glitter is once again back behind bars a little over one month after being released from prison where he served half a 16-year sentence for the sexual abuse of three schoolgirls.

Glitter, 78, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was recalled to prison for breaching his license conditions after he was secretly filmed allegedly trying to access the dark web, reports the Daily Mail.

Mike Hames, the former head of Scotland Yard’s Paedophile Unit said that Glitter would always represent a danger to children, making a return to custody appropriate.

In an interview on Times Radio, Hames explained that Glitter was “not allowed to conduct certain things on his phone.”

“As far as Gadd is concerned, he is so dangerous and so fixated on his offending behaviour that he’ll never stop - he’s gone too far. He’s arrogant; he’s opinionated,” added Hames. “[I have] no doubt he'll serve the next eight years of his sentence... He'll probably die in prison.”

“He’s someone who’s always going to be a danger to children, quite frankly.”

Glitter was jailed in 2015 for attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault, and one count of raping a girl under 13. He was at the peak of his career when he preyed on his victims who at the time felt no one would believe them due to his fame and status.

Glitter’s sexual crimes were only revealed 40 years later, when he became the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree - the Metropolitan Police investigation launched after Jimmy Savile’s long history of sexual offences became a national scandal.

In 2012, it emerged that Savile had sexually abused hundreds of people, mostly female, over a period of 50 years. Savile’s celebrity status had also provided cover for his predatory behaviour, with his victims only coming forward after the media personality’s death in 2011.

However, Glitter had been disgraced years earlier, in 1999, when he was jailed for four months for possession of 4,000 child sexual abuse materials.

Glitter had been released in February and was being housed in a bail hostel along with six other sex offenders. It was here that he was secretly filmed allegedly trying to access the dark web on a smartphone.

Glitter’s phone is now being examined by police.

“He was put into the bail hostel where I think there were 17 men in all, and about 6 of them were convicted child sex abusers who've been released on licence,” Hames told Times Radio.

“What that does is to put them in a position where they can talk to each other, talk about what they've done in the past, share their fantasies and essentially plot what they're going to do next.”

“And so that does raise certain concerns. They're going to talk about the thing that they're completely obsessed by, and that's having sex with children,” Hames went on.

In the video footage obtained by The Sun, Glitter appears to be discussing how to access the Dark Web with a fellow resident.

In the footage, Glitter, asks, “Shall I get rid of this Duck Duck?”

A man replies, “Yeah, I wouldn’t bother using that if I were you.”

“So what do I do next, then? Let's try and find this Onion. One step at a time,” Glitter then says.

“Duck duck” is thought to refer to DuckDuckGo, a search engine which protects the privacy of its users, while an “Onion” is understood to refer to the Dark Web, which is often used by paedophiles seeking to access child sexual abuse materials.

“Protecting the public is our priority,” said a spokesperson for the Probation Service, who confirmed Glitter's recall to prison. “That's why we set tough licence conditions and when offenders breach them, we don't hesitate to return them to custody.”