Former pop star Gary Glitter has been bailed after his arrest earlier today by police investigating the Jimmy Savile scandal.

He was held at 7.15am at his home in central London and taken to a police station.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said on Sunday evening: "The man, from London, was arrested on suspicion of sexual offences, and was taken into custody at a London police station.

gary glitter

Gary Glitter has left a central London police station after his arrest earlier today by police investigating the Jimmy Savile scandal


"This individual falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed 'Savile and others'.

"At approx. 17.00hrs today he was bailed to return to the police station in mid-December 2012, pending further inquiries."

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was photographed leaving Charing Cross police station shortly before 5pm today. Scotland Yard was not available for comment on Glitter's release.

Police did not say what led to his arrest today.

The late TV presenter Savile, who died last year at the age of 84, has been described as one of the most prolific sex offenders in recent UK history. Scotland Yard detectives are dealing with about 300 alleged victims and are following more than 400 lines of inquiry.

Officers appealed for anyone with information to contact them. Earlier this week officers searched the cottage to look for "any evidence of any others being involved in any offending with him".

Glitter's arrest came as the chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, said he was dedicated to finding out the truth about the scandal that has engulfed the corporation, vowing there would be "no covering our backs".

Writing in today's Mail on Sunday newspaper he said the BBC's reputation was on the line, and that it has risked squandering the public's trust.

Speaking of Savile's apparent decades of criminality, he wrote: "Can it really be the case that no one knew what he was doing? Did some turn a blind eye to criminality? Did some prefer not to follow up their suspicions because of this criminal's popularity and place in the schedules? Were reports of criminality put aside or buried?

gary glitter

Police leave the home of Gary Glitter in central London after the former pop star, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was arrested by officers investigating the Jimmy Savile scandal


"Even those of us who were not there at the time are inheritors of the shame."

He also apologised "unreservedly" to the abused women who spoke to the BBC's Newsnight programme but did not have their stories told when the report was axed.

The BBC chairman said the two independent inquiries that have been set up - one into the Newsnight report, the other into the BBC's culture and practices in the years Savile worked there - must get to the truth of what happened.

"Now my immediate priority is to get to the bottom of the Savile scandal and to make any and every change necessary in the BBC to learn the lessons from our independent investigations," he said.

Speaking to Andrew Marr on the BBC, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said there needed to be an over-arching independent inquiry into the Savile case.

Too often the criminal justice system gives the victim the impression they will not be believed if they come forward with allegations of sexual abuse, she said, adding: "If there is an assumption that you won't be believed then you are less likely to come and if you do come forward and then you meet that culture of disbelief, then it is going to be swept under the carpet."

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said he was not convinced by the case for an immediate judge-led inquiry of the kind she proposed.

He told the same programme: "There is always a danger if you set up a very substantial inquiry process of that kind that it takes much longer to get to the truth.

"What should be happening right now first and foremost - and clearly is happening with the police - is we should be looking to see who is still around who was involved, and criminal proceedings should follow if people were guilty of participating in these offences alongside Jimmy Savile. That is of paramount importance."

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  • Jimmy Savile in 1961 around the time he was working for Radio Luxembourg. He is at London Airport with Pan American stewardess Birgit Johansson with two gold discs; one is for American singer Elvis Presley for having sold one million copies of "It's Now or Never" in the UK, and the other is for Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker

  • Cilla Black and Jimmy Savile before a Variety Club Luncheon at the Savoy Hotel. Taken in 1964, the year Savile became the first presenter of Top of the Pops

  • Two women have come forward with allegations from the 1960s, one who was 14 and another who was a teenager when she claims Savile sexually abused her in Scarborough

  • Savile in 1969 with Physically Handicapped and Able-Bodied (PHAB) member Erika Mentz from Germany and other PHAB members at a dance at Devonshire House

  • 1969 also saw Savile begin volunteering at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital for specialist spinal injuries. He would later be given a room there

  • Jimmy Savile presenting a cheque to children on behalf of the NSPCC in 1969

  • The 1970s saw Savile start volunteering at Leeds General Infirmary and...

  • ... Broadmoor secure high-security psychiatric hospital. Allegations by former patients have been made against Savile although ex-workers have disputed the idea that he could have been left alone with anyone whilst working there

  • The 70s also saw the start of Jim'll Fix It. Allegations from this period include Caroline Moore, a 13-year-old patient at Stoke Mandeville hospital in 1971, who says Savile "rammed his tongue" down her throat and another allegation accuses Savile of molesting a brain-damaged teenage patient at Leeds General Infirmary in 1972

  • The 1980s saw the continuation of Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It as Savile became a much loved household name. Two allegations relating to this time include one from a then-15-year-old girl (not pictured) who made a complaint of abuse by Savile in Lancashire. Pictured is 12-year-old Rebecca Heap

  • Savile at the Stoke Mandeville hospital with injured children from Beirut in 1987

  • Savile was knighted in 1990 and continued his charity work throughout the decade

  • Savile was questioned in 2007 by police about allegations of sexual abuse but the Crown Prosecution service says there is not enough evidence to warrant a prosecution

  • A 2008 police report into abuse at the Haut de Garenne children's home in Jersey names Savile, although this is never made public

  • Savile re-united with his Jim'll Fix It chair in 2009. The previous year Sussex police received a complaint of sexual assault but went on to say the victim was "unwilling to co-operate in any investigation"

  • Jimmy Savile is found dead at the age of 84 in October 2011. He is buried in Scarborough

  • In December 2011 the BBC drop an investigation by Newsnight into the allegations of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile. Three tribute programmes are aired instead

  • ITV airs a documentary, 'Exposure, the Other Side of Jimmy Savile', in which a number of women claim they were abused by Savile as youngsters, including Karin Ward (pictured)

  • Within days of the documentary, many more allegations surface. By the 9 October Peter Spindler of the Metropolitan Police tells the BBC: "It is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender"

  • 11 October 2012 and George Entwistle, Director General of the BBC, asks journalists why the Newsnight programme was dropped as police from Tayside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and North Yorkshire police say they are investigating allegations going back to 1959

  • 12 October and police reveal they have 340 potential lines of inquiry

  • 15 October sees a man come forward alleging that Savile abused him when he was a nine-year-old boyscout

  • Savile's family removed his headstone from his grave and broke it up in the wake of the furore

  • Jimmy Savile sexually abuses transgender man

    A transgender man comes forward alleging that Jimmy Savile 'stuck his hand up his nightdress' while he was a 17-year-old teenage girl at Broadmoor in the 1970's. More here http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/15/jimmy-savile-timeline-abuse-allegations_n_1966426.html?1350304573#slide=1641388