Gary Glitter \nBRISTOL, ENGLAND - His 1970s glam rock hit "Rock and Roll, Part Two" rocks sports arenas around the world to this day, but Gary Glitter's world got rocked Friday when the singer was sentenced to four months behind bars, after he pleaded guilty to accepting and possessing child porn photographs.
The 55-year-old performer was acquitted, though, by a Bristol Crown Court jury on eight charges of sexual abuse involving a 14-year-old fan during the 1980s. She had first met Glitter in 1976, at the height of his career, while he was appearing here. They met again in 1980, with the sexual abuse charges related to a two-year timeframe between 1980 and 1982.
Reuters says the singer stood smiling in the dock, under his trademark bouffant-style haircut, as the sexual abuse acquittals were read to cheers from the public gallery - but the cheers turned to silence when the sentence came down on 54 counts of photographs involving children under 16.
Glitter was charged under his real name, Paul Gadd. He gave no evidence during his three-day trial and called no witnesses in his defense, Reuters says. His attorney had accused the fan of creating the charges for money. She'd first made the charges public by way of selling her story to News of the World, the British tabloid, in a deal said to have involved more than the initial $16,180 if Glitter was found guilty.
That deal is now under investigation by the Press Complaints Commission, an independent body, saying it puts the industry's code of practice into question.
Aside from "Rock and Roll Part 2," Glitter's best-known song is "I'm The Leader of the Gang," a hit for him in England but an American hit for blues-and-roots rock trio Brownsville Station in 1974. He's fought alcohol and drug problems since his 1970s heyday and is reported to have survived two suicide attempts.
He was arrested in 1997 after returning from a trip to Cuba, when police found pornographic photographs in his possession, Reuters says.
