Gary Glitter bailed by Jimmy Saville police

Former pop star and convicted sex offender Gary Glitter has been bailed until December after his arrest by police investigating the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The 68-year-old fallen idol was held at 7.15am at his home in central London and taken to a police station.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was photographed leaving Charing Cross police station shortly before 5pm. Police did not say what led to his arrest.

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. There have been allegations that Glitter raped a girl while in Savile’s dressing room while the Jim’ll Fix It presenter groped another schoolgirl.

Former pop star Gary Glitter is barely recognisable today from the brash star of 1970s glam rock.

In his prime, he enjoyed transatlantic success with a string of hits, selling 18 million records in five years in the early 70s. But any legacy was destroyed after he was jailed for four months in Britain in 1999 for downloading child pornography.

He later served almost three years in jail in Vietnam after being convicted in March 2006 for child abuse offences.

Gadd was deported back to the UK in 2008.

Meanwhile, a member of Savile’s extended family has told Sky News that the family knew of his “darker side” and said she was abused on two occasions by the TV star.

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”.