Gary Glitter ‘given £15k taxpayer-funded knee op’
Gary Glitter reportedly underwent a taxpayer-funded £15,000 knee operation that left him recovering for a week in hospital while handcuffed to his bed.
The 78-year-old convicted paedophile – last month freed from jail after completing half his 16-year sentence, but returned last week for breaching licence terms after it was revealed he had been using a smartphone and discussing the dark web at his bail hostel – is said to have had the surgery on the NHS in November at Dorset County Hospital while under round-the-clock guard by prison officers.
A source told The Sun on Sunday newspaper about how Glitter also left hospital staff sickened with stories about his “pervy” past during his stay: “Glitter seemed to come straight in and had a room waiting for him.
“It was all arranged in advance, although we didn't know how long he had waited for the op.
“No one could believe the treatment he was getting and he seemed to revel in the attention.
“While he was there, Glitter was very chatty and cheerful – and over-friendly.
“He asked quite a lot of questions about the staff, especially the younger female ones.
“He took a shine to one young, female nurse and it made her feel sick. He also spoke quite a lot about going abroad, and said what a great time he had in Cambodia and Vietnam.
“There was no shred of remorse about what he had done.
“Glitter also joked about how the service in the hospital was better than it was in prison. He spent most of his time sitting up in bed, chatting or reading books.
“He had the operation because of his age and his knee was degenerating. But by no means was it an emergency and quite a lot of people want knee operations can’t have them.”
The Sun added one of hundreds of patients languishing on NHS waiting lists branded Glitter’s operation “totally unfair”.
‘Rock ’n’ Roll (Part II)’ singer Glitter was booked in under his real name Paul Gadd while an inmate at HMP The Verne, Dorset.
A Ministry of Justice source told The Sun on Sunday jail bosses had to give prisoners the same healthcare as the rest of the population.
Glitter is currently held at Winchester Prison, but is likely to be moved back to The Verne.
He was first jailed in 1999 after being caught with 4,000 child abuse images on his laptop.
Glitter fled abroad after his release but was kicked out of Cambodia in 2002 amid reports of sex crime allegations.
In 2006, he was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged ten and 11, in Vietnam and spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
The shamed former glam rocker was convicted and jailed in 2015 for historic sex attacks after he abused two girls, aged 12 and 13, after he invited them backstage to his dressing room after a concert.
He also crept into the bed of a third victim, aged under ten, in an attempt to rape her in 1975.