PEADOPHILE Gary Glitter is living just a stone's throw away from TEN schools after he was released from jail early.
The serial child abuser is residing in a secret bail hostel shockingly close to a housing estate with busy playgrounds.
The 78-year-old was released yesterday under the cover of darkness at 1.25am having served just half of his 16 year sentence.
Glitter left HMP The Verne, a jail solely for male sex offenders in Portland, Dorset.
The cloak and dagger operation took weeks to plan — and involved him cowering in the back of a black saloon, flanked by four stony-faced police officers.
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Glitter was driven for several hours to a bail hostel at a top secret suburban location, which The Sun is not naming.
His strict licence conditions state he is prohibited from going anywhere near schools, playgrounds or swimming pools.
Last night, sources hit out after he was allowed out under automatic release rules.
One said: “By law, officials’ hands were completely tied.
“He had to be released at the halfway point of his sentence.
“But Glitter simply hasn’t engaged properly with the treatment he was offered inside.
“He attended the sessions but made it quite clear he wasn’t interested. It was like a naughty kid staring out of the window throughout class.
“If a dangerous sex offender refuses to engage, surely they’re just not fit for release?”
Last night one of his victims said of his release: “It’s hit me really hard. I can’t believe this is happening to me. I just can’t do this anymore.
“He should never been let out of prison for what he did.
I want my girlfriend to try dirty talk but she won't do it
“He’s just done eight years but I’m doing a life sentence.
“I can never forget what this monster did to me and I’m still struggling to deal with it. I really believe that he is still a danger to society.
“Who knows what he could go on to do?”
In June 2021, The Sun first revealed Glitter had been given the green light for freedom.
In Vietnam, one of his child victims — whom he molested when she was just aged ten — told us at the time: “He will always be a terrible danger to young girls. It’s terrifying to think he might soon be free.
“I still have nightmares about what he did to me.”
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, has been categorised as a level 3 offender.
This means he is still seen as dangerous and capable of causing serious harm and will need senior probation staff to monitor him.
He will have to abide by a strict curfew, and is banned from working without prior approval.
His conditions state he is not permitted to travel outside the UK and can have no contact with the media.
He is also barred from living with anyone under the age of 18.
He’s just done eight years but I’m doing a life sentence.
One of Glitter's victims
Any breach of his licence conditions would see Glitter facing an instant return to jail.
Last night, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Sex offenders like Paul Gadd are closely monitored by the police and Probation Service and face some of the strictest licence conditions including being fitted with a GPS tag.
“If the offender breaches these conditions at any point, they can go back behind bars.
“We’ve already introduced tougher sentences for the worst offenders and ended the automatic halfway release for serious crimes.”
Lawyer Richard Scorer, who represents one of Glitter’s victims, told The Sun: “If there’s one thing we know about serious sex offenders, it’s that they are overwhelmingly likely to try to offend again.
"It’s almost inconceivable that he won’t and his failure to engage with these programmes just reinforces that.
"My client will be incredibly concerned.
“Glitter will be subject to a number of licence conditions for a period of time. But the system is never fail-safe and once someone is out there’s always a risk.
"With someone like this there’s a significant risk — and that’s a very difficult thing for victims to be contemplating.
“This is a real source of concern. This needs to be looked at because there’s a real disconnect between the way the system operates and the way it looks to victims and the risk it involves.”
And Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, called Glitter’s early release “horrendous news for survivors of domestic and sexual violence."
The fallen pop idol was caged for 16 years in 2015 for sex offences against three girls aged eight to 13.
But because he was sentenced to a fixed term inside, he did not have to go before the Parole Board.
Parole chiefs can block a prisoner’s release if they believe they still pose a risk to the public.
Glitter was one of the UK’s biggest glam rock stars of the 1970s and a familiar face on BBC TV chart show Top of the Pops.
He had a string of hits including three UK No 1 singles: I’m the Leader of the Gang (I Am!), I Love You Love Me Love and Always Yours.
GLITTER'S DOWNFALL
Glitter’s fall from grace began in 1997 when he took a laptop into a Bristol branch of PC World for repair and an engineer found child abuse images on the hard drive.
Two years later the singer was jailed for four months after a total of 4,000 images were found by police in a subsequent investigation.
He emigrated on release, before being kicked out of Cambodia in 2002 amid claims of committing sex crimes.
Four years later he was jailed in neighbouring Vietnam for molesting two girls, one aged just ten.
He escaped serious charges of child rape — which carried a death sentence — and returned to the UK in 2008.
Glitter was forced to sign the sex offender register but he was arrested once again in 2012 at his multimillion-pound home in Westminster.
Police would later describe him as a “habitual sexual predator who took advantage of the star status afforded to him."
And in 2015 he was convicted of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one of having sex with a girl under 13 in the 1970s and 1980s.
Sentencing him, Judge Alistair McCreath said he could find no real evidence that Glitter had atoned for his crimes.
The judge said: “It is difficult to overstate the depravity of this dreadful behaviour.
"You did all of the victims real and lasting damage and you did so for no other reason than to obtain sexual gratification for yourself of a wholly improper kind.”
Glitter no longer owns the master rights to his songs — meaning he no longer receives any royalties.
In 2019, his song Rock and Roll Part 2 featured in movie The Joker but rights holders insisted he would not receive any royalties.
